Romero Family Shares Frustrating Ordeal in Getting Luis Romero Tested

Luis Romero Sr.

On Friday, fifty-two-year-old Belize City resident Luis Romero Senior was confirmed to be the third person in the country to have died due to COVID-19. He passed away at the Intensive Care Unit of the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. He had been admitted five hours before his death and many days after he began exhibiting signs and symptoms. His family was furious because they had been requesting for him to get tested after one of his sons tested positive for the virus. But according to his daughter, Shumari Romero, the family was told that it was likely that he had it and as such, they should continue giving him medication. That was it, no testing took place. The grieving family is of the view that if Romero Senior had been tested days before his death, the situation could have been different. Shumari shared the family’s frustrating ordeal with M.O.H. officials in attempting to get Romero Senior tested.

Shumari Romero

Shumari Romero, Daughter of Deceased

“We were waiting for my brother’s result to determine if everyone needs to get. No one answered. It took until the Thursday morning last week to get the results and that is because I had to send a message saying that now my dad and my brother are expiring symptoms. That is kind of alarming so let’s, what is going on?  Why haven’t we received the results? That same day when they called and said that my brother is positive we were like, okay. They did the contact tracing I guess you would call it. They told my brother just my mother, my sister in law and my nephew need to get tested. I was annoyed. I was angry because I was like why not my father. I told them to take him still. My brother said that the lady said that more than likely he has it already so to just give him meds and give him treatment just like that over the phone, just keep doing what they were doing vitamins, medicine, tea whatever and then later that is when my dad progressed with the breathing issues in the night. So my brother end up calling I guess it would be the same person that told him my dad did not need anything. In the morning that is when they called the ambulance to go and get him. That was at six am. The ambulance reached the home at nine a.m. Because my dad is a plus size person, my brother told them that they would need someone, more assistance to get him out of the house; they still did not bring anyone. So round eleven they got through.”