Coronavirus slams couple struggling to feed young daughter - Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (AP) — The back door clicked shut behind him and he faced the brick walls of the alley.

Earlier this month, The Associated Press documented the plight of Roberto, a restaurant cook in his mid-30s, and his wife, Janeth, a restaurant worker in her mid-40s, a Honduran couple now finding it hard to put food on the table for their sunny 5-year-old daughter, Allison.

Their days since the outbreak's start were spent standing in food bank lines, chasing tips about grocery giveaways and temporary jobs, and sharing some of the meager groceries they managed to obtain with family members even worse off.

Days later, the couple’s cellphones rang with the bad news: Husband and wife had tested positive for the coronavirus.

These days, Roberto and Janeth close themselves up in the bedroom of their basement apartment on the edge of D.C., shutting Allison out in hopes of saving her from infection.

At the Upper Cardozo Health Center in northwest Washington, where Roberto received his coronavirus test, members of the hard-pressed medical staff know that telling working-class patients to quarantine often means jeopardizing their means of survival.

At home, fever set in for Roberto.

The day after Roberto received his diagnosis came a FaceTime call from Janeth’s younger sister, Arely, who is stranded in her Baltimore apartment without a car, with three children under 14.

All had seemed well when Janeth had yet again taken food to her days earlier, greeting her with a hug.