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Family of nurses staying in Austin hotel amid coronavirus outbreak

A mother and her two daughters are all local nurses and have been living in a hotel for the past three weeks to protect other family members they live with.

AUSTIN, Texas — The possibility of becoming exposed to the coronavirus is a reality for local health care workers, but some are going the extra mile to make sure the rest of their family doesn't catch the virus.

Elisheba Zarahiah and her two daughters are all three local nurses in the Austin area who have been living out of a hotel for the past three weeks. 

"It makes me feel like I'm on uneven ground. I don't know which way to move always because my life is planned out by the pandemic," Zarahiah said.

Since the three of them come in contact with COVID-19 patients, they decided it's best to move out of the house, away from their family and friends.

"We like to camp, so we thought, 'We'll go to a local camp ground?' But that was not an option, so the next logical thing was to go into a hotel," said Zarahiah.

LOCAL NURSES LIVING IN HOTELS

LOCAL NURSES LIVING IN HOTELS: A family of three nurses is living out of an Austin hotel amid the Coronavirus outbreak. They moved out of the house they were living in to avoid spreading the virus to friends and family. Hannah Rucker News shows us they're paying for the room out of pocket and wish there were more housing options for nurses during this time.

Posted by KVUE on Wednesday, April 1, 2020

The family, paying for the hotel out of pocket, hope more housing options will become available for nurses in the coming weeks.

"Just pinching for pennies, using our savings," said Zarahiah.

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But all in all, they said they're in this together, doing what they love. 

"It's peace of mind, like, 'OK, wash it all off, talk it out.' We're really close and it helps we can encourage each other and talk to each other, pray and keep the faith that it'll get better," said Zarahiah.

If you would like to reach out their family, you can email elishebazarahiah15@gmail.com.

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