Jose Roberto Alvarez

67, Los Angeles

Alisha Álvarez’s mind is filled with thoughts of her father’s happy spirit and the stories he told. José Roberto Álvarez, a man of medium stature with a thick mustache, was known for his work ethic and instilling in his children a love of others.

“It is so difficult to talk about him because I loved him so much,” Álvarez said of her father, who died July 20 after contracting COVID- 19. He worked at one of the three food distribution facilities that were briefly closed over the summer by Los Angeles County public health authorities after outbreaks of the virus.

He was “very affectionate; he never left me without giving me a hug, a kiss,” Álvarez said of the man known to some in his community as Beto Mena.

José Roberto was from San Miguel, El Salvador, and came to the United States in the early 1980s. An engineer, he had served for two years as head of maintenance at Mission Foods Corp. in Commerce.

At the beginning of the pandemic, in March, he was going to work every day. In May, the company sent a letter notifying employees that someone had fallen ill with the coronavirus. José Roberto and his wife tested negative that month.

In the following weeks, there was no official communication from the company, a leading distributor of tortillas, chips and salsas, that more workers had gotten sick, Álvarez said. In June, however, word began circulating among employees that some workers had contracted COVID- 19.

On June 22, the 67- year- old José Roberto Álvarez, who had diabetes and high blood pressure, began showing some COVID- 19 symptoms. On June 28, he and his wife were tested again. This time both tested positive.

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials reported that he was among dozens of workers who tested positive for COVID- 19 at Mission Foods. In a statement, Mission Foods said it has stepped up measures to enhance worker safety in the face of the pandemic.

After his infection was diagnosed, José Roberto remained isolated at home. In addition to him and his wife, another daughter, who suffers from a chronic disease, also became infected.

Six days after the positive test, on July 4, he had trouble breathing and was taken to a hospital. The next day, he was admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit. He spent two weeks connected to a ventilator and died July 20.

“My dad has been a partner for 35 years to my mom,” Álvarez said. “It is hard not to have him here. He was everything for us.”

The family is working to create the Beto Mena Foundation, a nonprofit to serve the community, as a way to honor José Roberto. At the same time, by publicizing his case, they are trying to give a voice to the Latino community, many of whom are forced to go to workplaces where there is a risk of contagion.

Álvarez said her father’s death could serve as an example to other workers, encouraging them to have strength and perhaps help other families avoid tragedy.

“There are other families who work there,” she said, “and I want people who are in that situation to have a voice.”