38-year-old Jackylyn Zarandona was connected to an oxygen tank at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland when we spoke to her via FaceTime.
RELATED: Richmond woman has lost 9 family members to COVID-19 amid nation's slow vaccine rollout
"At first it's really horrible, a horrible feeling, you thought you were going to die, but you know we just gotta do what we gotta do," says Zarandona.
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While Jackylyn is alone in her room, she's not without family in the building. Her 62-year-old mom, Bing Sarmiento, who she lives with, also has COVID-19 and is hospitalized on a different floor of the same hospital.
When we talked with Sarmiento she was also connected to an oxygen machine.
"I was supposed to go home yesterday, but I don't know what happened. All of a sudden my oxygen was dropping again," Sarmiento said.
VIDEO: Wife sees husband's decline from COVID-19 through FaceTime
Wife sees husband's decline from COVID-19 through FaceTime
Jackylyn came to the hospital Monday, Bing came Tuesday. The two believe Bing came into contact with someone who had COVID-19 while she was working at Walgreens.
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Sarmiento says that her asthma is problematic with the coronavirus. Her daughter's case is different though, and has to do with pneumonia and COVID-19.
"Stay home guys, be safe, because COVID is no joke," says Sarmiento.
Doctors have told them both to lay on their stomachs and they've been doing just that.
RELATED: 'Our ICU is full': Bay Area hospitals worried about post-holiday COVID-19 surge
"Doctors are reassuring us, every day they come in, the nurses and the doctors, they are so optimistic," says Zarandona.
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And that positivity has rubbed off.
"We can do it, we're surviving, it's just COVID," says Jackylyn.
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