Baninay Bautista (left) and Bont Oropel (right). Images: screengrab from YouTube/Baninay Bautista, Bont Bryan Oropel
Vlogger Baninay Bautista, a former housemate of the reality TV show “Pinoy Big Brother”, has recently tested positive for the novel coronavirus along with her boyfriend Bont Oropel and other family members.
The couple broke the news to fans through separate vlogs just a few days after the death of Oropel’s father, who was diagnosed with pneumonia and was suspected to have had COVID-19 as well.
Bautista disclosed that she, Oropel’s older brother and mother have all contracted the novel coronavirus. The four of them, including Oropel, live in one household.
“Kanina nung nalaman ko, sobrang umiyak ako kasi natakot ako. Naging emotional din ako kasi may fear, kasi alam naman nating walang gamot and all, pero to tell you guys, honestly, sobrang wala kong nafi-feel na kahit ano,” said Bautista, who filmed her Aug. 18 YouTube vlog just around two hours after finding out about her and her family’s swab test results.
(Earlier, when I found out, I cried really hard because I was scared. I became emotional because of fear, knowing that there is no cure yet, but to tell you guys, honestly, I do not [physically] feel anything at all.)
Bautista said that she does not have most COVID-19 symptoms, although she noted that she suffers from a mild sore throat.
“Gusto ko lang i-diary ‘tong journey ko kasi baka meron kayong matutunan or baka meron akong matutunan na ma-share ko sa inyo,” the vlogger noted.
(I just want to document my journey because maybe you guys can learn something from it, or maybe I will learn something new that I can share with you.)
By the end of her vlog, an emotional Bautista revealed to fans that they will be brought to a quarantine facility for treatment and isolation.
Oropel meanwhile detailed his father’s last moments in his YouTube video also posted on Aug. 18, where he also revealed that he, too, is COVID-19 positive.
The vlogger shared the difficulty in looking for hospitals with available isolation rooms as they were not able to find one for his father.
Oropel’s brother was eventually able to contact a hospital that had an available room. When they arrived at the hospital, however, the staff said that his father was not on the list and was denied accommodation despite the confirmed reservation.
As his father’s condition worsened, Oropel brought him to the emergency room and begged the nurses to tend to his father, although hospital protocols would not allow it, according to the vlogger.
“Sobrang nagmamakaawa na ko sa mga nurse, tulungan nila ‘yung papa ko na kahit oxygen lang kasi feeling ko mabubuhay si papa sa oxygen pa eh,” an emotional Oropel stressed.
(I was begging the nurses to please help my father, even to just provide him oxygen, because I think he would have survived with that.)
Oropel shared that he saw how his father stopped breathing, noting that he even tried to do CPR to revive him. The father was then cremated immediately after as per COVID-19 protocols.
Two days after, however, the hospital, which was not named, contacted Oropel to ask if his father would still be brought to the reserved room, which is how his family found out that his father was really on the list.
“Nagalit kami kasi ibig sabihin may available room talaga and naka-reserve para sa papa ko pero pagdating namin dun sa ER, sinasabi nila na wala,” he said.
(We got mad because it turned out that there really was an available room reserved for papa but when we got to the ER, they told us that there was none.)
“Wala silang maayos na communication, wala sa ayos na pamamalalakad,” the grieving son stressed. (They do not have proper communication and the hospital is being run poorly.)
He noted how hard it is that just shortly after his father’s death, he and his whole family are now battling COVID-19. Like Bautista, Oropel promised fans that he will be giving updates on their journey to recovery.
As per his latest update, Oropel is currently observing self-quarantine in his home and is feeling a little better than before. JB
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