Fresno County officials give OK for family to attend parents’ burial during coronavirus
Fresno County officials decided Tuesday to allow a Firebaugh family whose parents both died from coronavirus to be present for the burial as long as they follow precautionary guidelines.
Aida Alvarez and her four sisters all caught COVID-19, the coronavirus, while caring for their parents last month. Their parents both were hospitalized and passed away from the virus, but the sisters recovered.
Antonia Gordillo, 82, died April 3. Agustin Gordillo, 85, died April 5.
Because they were quarantined while recovering, the family didn’t have a funeral for their parents. And since they’re the first family to experience such a tragedy in Fresno County, it was unclear if they’d even be allowed out of their cars for their parents’ burial at Fresno Memorial Gardens.
“We want some sort of closure. All we ask for is 10 minutes,” Alvarez told The Bee.
Fresno County Supervisor Brian Pacheco, Public Health Director David Pomaville and interim Health Officer Dr. Rais Vohra came to a consensus Tuesday to allow the siblings to be near their parents’ caskets during the burial.
“Every day we each run a risk by leaving our homes, but we have to go to the grocery store and do these essential things,” Pacheco said. “In my opinion, having closure to bury your parents is one of those essential things we should be able to do.”
The family will be allowed 10 cars at the cemetery, and only the siblings who were exposed to the virus will be allowed to be out of the cars and near the casket. They must maintain social distancing.
Health officials are leery about funerals, Pacheco said; some states have reported high infection concentrations among attendees. Pacheco said that if the guidelines given to Alvarez’s family aren’t strictly followed, there’s a potential Fresno County won’t allow funerals until after the governor lifts the state’s shelter-in-place order.
Pacheco hopes it doesn’t come to that.
“That’s a lot of pressure to put on one family, but that’s the best we can do right now,” he said. “I’m trying to find a happy medium here to comply with public health guidelines and meet this family’s needs.”
The burial for Alvarez’s parents is scheduled for Wednesday.
“We got the outcome we wanted and were asking for,” she said.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 1:36 PM.