PEARLAND, Texas — While many faces were masked, there was no hiding the excitement Friday as 68-year-old Belinda Galindo came home from the hospital after more than 50 days.
“I’m feeling real good, thank you, yes I am,” Galindo said.
Galindo was too weak to speak at length. But she thanked the doctors, nurses and everyone else who helped her.
"Prayer works, there is a God," Galindo said. "He creates miracles. I’m a survivor.”
Galindo’s husband and sister-in-law contracted COVID, too. So did her sister-in-law’s husband, retired Harris County Sheriff’s deputy Hilbert Nunez.
It happened after a trip to Spain and Egypt in late February and early March which included a Nile River cruise.
Sadly, Nunez died the day before Easter.
"Listen, out of four people that were extremely sick, we get three home safe," said Eric Quiroz, Nunez's son. "It’s a beautiful day. God is good, and we’re excited and stoked that she’s here. She made it.”
While the Egyptian river cruise was identified as a common denominator early on by public health officials, Ernest Galindo suspects they contracted COVID-19 at an airport while returning home.
"And everybody was trying to get out and, of course, at the airport you’re shoulder to shoulder," Galindo said. "One in front, one in back, coughing, talking, touching.”
He wasn’t allowed to see his wife, who was immobile and on a ventilator, for much of her illness.
Thankfully, the family can reconnect now as her recovery continues.
"Prayers work, this is a miracle," said one of Galindo's sons.