Frontliner couple Paco and Jaja Arespacochaga’s sacrifices during COVID

Joining us in this 3-part segment is a lovely frontliner couple, Paco and Jaja Arespacochaga.

Jannelle asks them what are the sacrifices they had to make when the COVID cases started to rise. Jaja had to stay in a hotel away from her family for 2 weeks straight. “It was scary, because we don’t know what kind of symptoms I would get,” says Jaja.

Paco tells us how one time, Jaja was exposed to a COVID-positive coworker. Jaja recalls how back then, people weren’t taking the pandemic seriously until staffs around them start becoming infected by COVID19. “It was a hard time,” she mentions.

Jaja also shares her sacrifices being a mom and a healthcare worker. She would only say hi to her daughter through their gate, she’d just pick up food her mom prepares. There wasn’t any physical contact with her family at all, only Facetime. “She was just like an outsider,” Paco remembers.

Jannelle then asks Paco what his sacrifices were as a supporting husband. Taking care of Cassidy, their daughter without Jaja was one of his sacrifices. Not seeing their other kids for 5 months was another. The couple even sat down for a discussion if they were going to get their other kids. But since the two of them being frontliners, they decided to not see the other kids for a while.

The couple also shares how hard it was to explain the pandemic to their kids. Jaja shares how Cassidy would always say “This Corona virus sucks! This is so boring!” Jaja and Paco felt bad for Cassidy who don’t have playmates, can’t go to the park and is just staying at home for the time being.

Paco tells us how one of his concerns as a frontliner was his vulnerability to COVID. He also shares some of his biggest concerns when COVID started to spread: how mainstream media can scare us, CDC and WHO having contradicting guidelines, and how Corono Virus is a virus no one knows about.

Jaja lists what concerns frontliners like them now:

• – People going out

• – People having parties

• – Asymptomatic patients

• – People being careless

Paco shares how people now are “too relaxed and too careless” as compared to when the outbreak started.

Watch out for the second part of the interview where Paco talks about his experience of being a COVID-positive patient.