THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Saturday/Sunday, March 28 - 29, 2020 |A
Liza Paqueo with her mother, Nida Cortes Paqueo, above. Albert
Szabo, right, with the truck he used to drive in Hungary.LIZA PAQUEO; SZABO FAMILY (RIGHT)with coronavirus.”
Singapore
That night, in an isolation
room in Singapore, Mr.
Sarker’s blood pressure was
dropping fast. Doctors sum-
moned his local contact, Jakir
Khan, a man Mr. Sarker had
grown up with in Bangladesh.
An image of Mr. Sarker’s lungs
showed cloudy white patches,
which meant heavy damage.
His kidneys weren’t working
either.
Mr. Khan made a video call
to Mr. Sarker’s wife in Bangla-
desh. He didn’t share the de-
tails of her husband’s dire con-
dition, worried it could trigger
complications in her preg-
nancy a few weeks from child-
birth. But if these were his fi-
nal moments, she should at
least see him, Mr. Khan
thought.
He pressed the phone
against the glass wall of the
isolation room. Mr. Sarker lay
on his stomach, his face
turned to one side, obscured
by tubes. She strained to see.
Mr. Khan panned the camera
toward a cluster of doctors.
“Look, they’re all working very
hard. Just pray for him,” he
said to her.
No one had spelled it out,
but Sanjida Akhter could tell
her husband’s life was in real
danger. Her parents had been
crying. An only son, Mr.
Sarker sent money to support
his wife and widowed mother.
The last time he was home, in
the summer of 2019, she
cooked him his favorite foods:
beef curry, taro stir fry.
In July, she learned she was
pregnant, and when Mr. Sarker
left for Singapore, they agreed
he would return after the
birth. She wondered now if
her husband would live to see
their child.
That night, unbeknown to
her, her father grappled with a
Continuedfromthepriorpage
wrenching question: If Mr.
Sarker died, would they want
the body flown back home? He
came to the conclusion that
they would. For peace of mind.
Still, there were logistical
matters to consider. The bodyneeded to be washed before
burial under Islamic customs,
but that wouldn’t be possible
because of the infection, he
was told. They would also
need permission from Bangla-
desh authorities.Manila
Mrs. Paqueo was a planner.
She had picked out her burial
plot in her hometown of Su-
rigao in the Philippines years
ago. It is on a hill overlooking
open waters. She’d instructed‘Look, they’re all working very hard.
Just pray for him.’A friend on the phone to Raju Sarker’s pregnant wifeworkers from local quarantine
orders.
“Shutting down the ability
of our industries to serve our
nation and maintain our physi-
cal infrastructure will impact
the economic viability of the
entire nation, not to mention
numerous businesses,” they
wrote.
Their plea highlights the
trade-off between battling the
spread of the virus and keep-
ing the economy on track. On
Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he
hoped to have the country
back at work in just twoweeks—a timeline at odds
with the advice of health pro-
fessionals.
Construction accounts for
4.1% of gross domestic prod-
uct, but the impact of a na-
tionwide shutdown would
spread to manufacturers of
building materials and equip-
ment as well as to architects
and engineers, said Ken Si-
monson, chief economist of
Associated General Contrac-
tors of America, a trade group.
While most construction
sites remain open, a growing
number are shutting down inher family and friends she
wanted her funeral to be a
party. Her favorite song “What
a Wonderful World” by Louis
Armstrong, would play, and
tunes by Earth, Wind & Fire.
By March 8, the pneumonia
had spread to her left lung.
She and her husband, a 72-
year-old economist who had
worked for years at the World
Bank, were tested for Covid-19.
They saw each other briefly
that day before being taken to
separate rooms. The results
would come in 48 hours.
Medics put a breathing
mask over her face and fitted
her with a feeding tube.
From the U.S., her daughter
Liza inquired about the coro-
navirus test every few hours.
A U.S. citizen, she has lived in
the country since 1985, when
her parents moved there for
work. The disease was now
spreading in America.
A specialist in infectious
diseases gave a webinar at her
office. Liza asked if Tamiflu,
which was being given to her
parents, would be effective
against Covid-19. The expert
said most likely not.Tehran
In the intensive-care unit in
Tehran, Ms. Shakibafar
breathed through an oxygen
mask, garbed in a purple hos-
pital gown. There were nine
beds in the room, which was
filled with patients like her
who were struggling to
breathe. Ms. Shakibafar’s
Covid-19 test came back posi-
tive several days after she was
admitted.
People were dying around
her. Hospital staff rushed into
the room several times, draw-
ing a curtain and intubating a
near-death patient. If their ef-
forts failed, the body was
wheeled out.
When she felt able, Ms.
Shakibafar talked to some of
her neighbors. She cajoled a
bearded man who looked to be
in his 50s to eat. The next
morning, his bed was empty.
At first the nurses said he’d
been moved to a hospital
ward, not wanting to upset
her. When she asked again,
they said he had died.The nurses counseled her.
“More than drugs, hope can
help you,” one said. They also
talked about their own worries
on the medical front lines.
Ms. Shakibafar struggled
with the sense of doom
around her. She played an Ira-
nian love song from the 1990s
on her phone and sometimes
sang along, mumbling into her
oxygen mask.
After five days in the ICU
that felt like a terrible night-
mare, Ms. Shakibafar was sent
to a ward and then discharged.
She cried. “I saw the sky with a
different perspective,” she said.Milan
Mr. Cilesi, the 61-year-old
Italian therapist, never re-
gained consciousness after hiscollapse that late-February
day when he was rushed to
the emergency room in the
middle of breakfast. On March
2, Ms. Lucchelli learned he had
died overnight.
She sent a suit and a photo
of Mr. Cilesi to the mortuary,
but the risk of contracting the
virus was too high for the
morticians, who could only lay
the clothes atop the body be-
fore they cremated it. At least
dress him in a hat, she asked.
“Ivo loved hats.”Washington, D.C.
Liza got an urgent text from
Manila as she had a late lunch
on March 10. On the phone
with a relative, she learned
her mother’s heart had
stopped. Doctors gave Mrs.
Paqueo chest compressions for
eight minutes and revived her.
Liza took an Uber to her
brother’s house to be with
family. It was there that she
got the call. Mrs. Paqueo’s pu-
pils were dilated. Theirmother had passed away at
7:27 a.m. on March 11, the day
the coronavirus was officially
declared a pandemic.
Her coronavirus test came
back positive a few hours
later, as did her husband’s. He
is still fighting the disease.
Mrs. Paqueo was cremated.
Her burial plot lies empty.Budapest
The medical team in Hun-
gary didn’t think Mr. Szabo
would last even a week. The
odds were bleak for the 70-
year-old retired truck driver,
still battling lymphoma from a
coronavirus isolation ward.
But on March 11, a doctor
woke him up, and told the old
man that his family was with
him. Mr. Szabo, on a ventila-tor, couldn’t speak but blinked
to signal he understood. There
was surprising news: His lungs
and circulation were both im-
proving, though he still wasn’t
out of the woods.
The doctor called it a mira-
cle. Gabor thinks his father
may have been lucky. Being
one of Hungary’s first pa-
tients, doctors were able togive him their full attention.
Recovered from his own
likely bout of coronavirus, Ga-
bor plans on staying in Europe
in the months to come, per-
haps taking up work in Swe-
den to support his parents. Af-
ter years in Brazil and a battle
with a global pandemic, he
thinks maybe now is the time
to remain close to family.“My father is showing again
how tough he is,” his son said.
“It’s hard to take out my dad,
he is like an old oak tree.”Bangladesh
In Bangladesh, Sanjida felt
desperate. Her baby was due
in a few weeks and Mr. Sarker
had been in intensive care for
more than a month. She
wanted to see her husband.
Since she couldn’t travel to
Singapore, doctors agreed to
hold up a phone close to his
face on a WhatsApp video call.
Mr. Sarker’s eyes were closed,
sunken, but he could hear,
doctors said.
The last time the two had
spoken to each other, more
than a month ago on Feb. 5, he
had told her not to worry. Shehad the same message for him.
She wanted to sound upbeat,
and somehow pull him back
from the jaws of death.
“You’re having a son,” she
said. “I went to the doctor and
he said I’m due to give birth
on April 1. Get better and
come home soon.”
Mr. Sarker’s latest Covid-
test came back negative. Butafter seven weeks in the hos-
pital, he still can’t breathe on
his own, and his condition re-
mains critical. Every day, San-
jida worries she’s one step
closer to her child’s birth and
perhaps her husband’s death.
Her hospital bag for the de-
livery is packed.
—Szabolcs Panyi
contributed to this article.(^0) 100,000 200,
Cumulative coronavirus cases
AsiaPacific
Europe
MiddleEast
NorthAmerica
Others
Jan. 22 Feb. March
Note: Data as of March 25
Source: Johns Hopkins CSSE
1
2 3
4
5
Feb. 8
RajuSarkertestspositiveinSingapore.
1
Feb. 23
AlbertSzabodevelopsflu-likesymptomsin
Hungary.
2
Feb. 28
IvoCilesiisrushedtoahospitalinItaly.
3
March 5
AitaiShakibafarisadmittedto
theintensive-careunitinIran.
4
March 10
LizaPaqueointhe U.S.learnshermother
inthe Philippinesisincriticalcondition
5
‘It’s hard to take out my dad,
he is like an old oak tree.’
Albert Szabo’s son, who came from Brazil to visit him
Ms. Shakibafar during the first of five days in intensive care.
AITAI SHAKIBAFAR
response to state orders. A
survey by the Associated Gen-
eral Contractors released Fri-
day found that 39% of compa-
nies had projects stopped by
clients or local authorities, up
from 28% last week.
As sites close, more work-
ers will likely turn to unem-
ployment benefits, further
swelling the ranks of recipi-
ents. On Thursday, the Labor
Department reported a record
3.28 million applications for
unemployment benefits in the
week ended March 21.
The $2 trillion rescue pack-
age approved by Congress
won’t be enough to help the
industry, the AGC said. The
group wants lawmakers to
spend more on infrastructure,
grant relief from losses on
federally funded projects and
protect construction worker
pension plans.
Industry groups say con-
struction workers are less at
risk from the virus because
they often work outdoors and
wear protective equipment
such as masks and gloves.
About 13% of respondents to
the AGC’s latest survey said
they knew of an infected per-
son on their job site, up from
8% in last week’s survey.
The construction industry
is pushing to keep projects up
and running even as some be-
gin to shut down around the
country to slow the spread of
the coronavirus.
In Washington, D.C., and in
state capitals, industry groups
are lobbying to designate con-
struction workers as essential
personnel exempt from stay-
at-home orders. The industry
employs 7.6 million Americans,
or 5% of the workforce.
That effort has had mixed
success. Illinois and California
have deemed construction es-
sential but Pennsylvania and
Washington state have or-
dered building sites closed ex-
cept those deemed essential,
such as health-care facilities.
New York state at first ex-
empted construction but
amended its order Friday to
shut down all projects except
those deemed critical, such as
those involving roads, transit,
bridges and health care.
Last week, industry groups
and the U.S. Chamber of Com-
merce wrote to President
Trump, urging his administra-
tion to exempt construction
BYDAVIDHARRISON
ANDKEIKOMORRIS
Building Industry Seeks Exemption
ply to all seasonal workers,
most of those entering the
country at the moment are
coming to plant and harvest
crops.
U.S. farmers rely heavily on
the seasonal guest-worker vi-
sas, known as H-2A, which
can legally account for as
many as one in 10 of a farm’s
workers.
The industry pressed the
Trump administration to ease
requirements.
“American farmers are de-
pendent on guest workers
from the H-2A program to har-
vest our crops, and American
consumers are dependent on
the food from these harvests
for continued sustenance dur-
ing the present crisis,” said
Dave Puglia, president of
Western Growers.
The easing of H-2A curbs
has angered groups advocat-
ing tighter restrictions on im-
migration—some of President
Trump’s staunchest allies—
who say the government
shouldn’t be making it easy
for employers to hire foreign
labor when so many Ameri-
cans are losing their jobs.
WASHINGTON—The State
Department is further easing
requirements on seasonal for-
eign worker visas, following
agriculture industry warnings
that a bottleneck created by
coronavirus-related curbs
could prompt a farm-labor
shortage at the peak of spring
harvest.
Under the latest rules,
which the State Department
issued Thursday, most appli-
cants will no longer need an
in-person interview to get vi-
sas for farm or other seasonal
work, such as landscaping,
fishing or working at resorts.
That requirement had slowed
the number of workers enter-
ing the U.S. The State Depart-
ment paused most visa pro-
cessing in embassies and
consulates abroad due to the
pandemic.
Under a different set of
rules issued last week, only
returning workers—nearly all
of whom come from Mexico—
were allowed to skip the in-
terview.
Though the new rules ap-
BYMICHELLEHACKMAN
U.S. Eases Curbs on
Seasonal Labor Visas
A virus warning sign posted at a construction site in Lebanon, Ky.
LUKE SHARRETT FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC