Texan family who contracted virus after big birthday party warns public to vacation at home

ARLINGTON, Texas – Arlington is using brushing a family with the coronavirus as a warning to others who may be considering big Thanksgiving reunions.

Alexa Aragonez told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram her family weighed the risks of catching the virus but decided to reunite for a birthday party on November 1.

A few days after the party, her 57-year-old mother, Enriqueta Aragonez, and others at the party started to feel sick. They were tested and all 12 participants tested positive for COVID-19. Three other people they had come into contact with also tested positive, said Alexa Aragonez, 26, who did not attend the party.

Arlington is using the family’s experience as part of a public awareness campaign to help reduce the spread of the coronavirus this holiday season by staying home.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also warning people not to spend Thanksgiving with people outside their homes and not to travel for the holidays.

Statewide, the Texas Department of Health reported 8,554 new cases of the virus on Sunday, more than 4,000 less than the one-day high of 12,597 new cases of the virus a day earlier. The state also reported 8,174 hospitalizations from the virus and 89 new deaths on Sunday.

In a video which is part of the campaign in Arlington, Enriqueta Aragonez is in her hospital and says, “I have been to my nephew and I love seeing my family. But now I am fighting COVID-19.”

She is now recovering at home, and although she doesn’t need extra oxygen, she still has pain in her lungs, Alexa Aragonez said. Most of the others who caught the virus at the party had milder symptoms, she said.

“We feel guilty for coming together,” Alexa’s sister admitted in the campaign video.

In the end, “not everyone is as lucky as my family,” Alexa told the Star-Telegram. She said she didn’t want anyone to needlessly lose a family member.

“We were afraid that my mother, the matriarch of the family, would pass away,” she said. “So I think the fear in our hearts made us want to put a conscience in the hearts of others.”