By Noreen Jazul A Filipino was reported as the first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) death in the Los Angeles County. On March 12, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) announced its first COVID-19 related death but did not specify details about the patient other than being a “non-resident,” and with extensive travel over the past month including a “long layover in South Korea.” Los Angeles Times, in its March 17 report, said the patient wasa 68-year-old Filipino named Loretta, who lived in Orlando, Florida. According to the LA Times, Loretta and her husband, Roddy, went to Walnut, California, to visit relatives on March 8. Before arriving in Los Angeles, the couple flew to the Philippines on February 4 and had traveled to Thailand, as well. “They had layovers in Seoul on the way to the Philippines and the US,” the LA Times reported. On March 9, the couple’s children, Rowena and Rem, received a message from Roddy saying “he couldn’t wake up” Loretta, and that she “didn’t have a pulse.” The LA Times reported that before calling 911, Roddy tried to resuscitate his wife and performed CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). Loretta was rushed to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. “When she arrived, Loretta was unresponsive but had a weak pulse. Hospital workers intubated her and gave her drugs to keep her heart beating,” the LA Times reported. Doctors placed Loretta in isolation and was tested for COVID-19 after being given a go signal from the LACDPH. On March 10, Loretta died. The following day, her family was informed by authorities that she tested positive for COVID-19. ‘No test for Roddy’ Loretta’s children and family have expressed frustration after health authorities refused to test Roddy, saying that he must show symptoms first. “What’s really frustrating is the fact that this is a man who was as close as you can get to the virus and we’re struggling with trying to get him properly tested,” Rem, Loretta’s son, told LA Times. Rem said his father was ordered to go under a 14-day self-quarantine instead. “I can’t wait. I can’t lose both parents in one week,” Rowena, Loretta’s daughter, told LA Times. The couple’s children also tried to have Roddy tested in the hospital where Loretta was rushed to, but the hospital said they can only do so if the patient is in critical condition. Roddy, according to the LA Times, is a “non-insulin-dependent diabetic and takes medication for a cardiovascular condition.” The couple’s nieces, Victoria Do and Katarina Fajardo, told NBC Los Angeles that Roddy currently has a fever, but they were told by a public health nurse that their uncle's temperature is not “high enough” as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “People are not getting tested when they should be,” Do told NBC Los Angeles.