By Wilson Wong - NBC News
Daniel Macías wanted to wait for him and his wife, Davy Macías, to recover from the coronavirus before naming their newborn daughter.
But about
a week after giving birth, the mother died
of complications from COVID-19.
And almost two weeks later her husband passed away.
Davy Macías was 37 years old and Daniel Macías 39, according to Terri Serey, the woman's sister-in-law.
The couple, both from Yucaipa, California,
orphaned five children, ages 7, 5, 3 and 2, and their 3-week-old baby.
"They were the kindest and most amazing people," said Serey, "they were the ones that brought everyone together, for every birthday, every holiday."
Most of the 100,000 people currently hospitalized for COVID-19 in the US were not vaccinated.
Sept.
7, 202100: 42
They are among the
more than 660,000 people in the United States who have died
from the coronavirus.
Davy Macias had not been vaccinated claiming she was pregnant, Serey said, but it was unclear if Daniel was vaccinated.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
urged all pregnant women to receive the COVID-19 vaccine
in early August, about two weeks before the death of Davy Macías on 26 August, as hospitals in US hotspots saw a worrying number of critically ill and unvaccinated future mothers contracting the virus.
The entire family tested positive for the coronavirus after traveling in early August, according to Serey.
But while
their children recovered quickly, the parents' symptoms worsened.
Shortly after returning from the trip, the two were taken to the hospital and admitted to the intensive care unit, less than a week apart, "a couple of rooms apart," Serey said.
["Now we are going to war." The death of an anti-vaccine by COVID-19 triggers threats to doctors for not using ivermectin]
Davy Macias was 32 weeks pregnant and was "optimistic" about her recovery when she was hospitalized the first weekend in August, Serey said.
But, he said,
the expectant mother was intubated and never met her daughter when she gave birth by cesarean section
on Aug. 18.
Daniel Macías only met his fifth daughter briefly before being intubated about three days after her birth.
It doesn't have a name yet.
Daniel and Davy Macias Courtesy Terri Serey
Davy Macias was a nurse at Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center, and Daniel Macias was a teacher at Jehue Middle School in Colton, California, according to Serey.
Because she worked nights and he worked during the day, Serey said that children were the "center of their lives."
According to Serey, he did not know if Davy Macías regretted not having received the coronavirus vaccine sooner;
He only knew that the couple thought they would recover quickly and introduce their fifth daughter to the rest of the family themselves.
[A man dies after being rejected in 43 hospitals saturated by COVID-19]
"They never did," Serey said.
Davy and Daniel Macias are survived by their five children, who
are under the care of their grandparents.
Serey said she hasn't spoken to her grandparents since Daniel Macías died. But, he added, after their mother died and their father remained in ICU,
the children "wondered where their parents were."