Mother of Ewa Beach man hospitalized with COVID-19 also tests positive

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - The mother of a 37-year-old Ewa Beach man hospitalized with COVID-19 has also tested positive for the disease.

Peggy Torda-Saballa tested positive less than two weeks after her son, Coby Torda, went into the hospital. Torda remains on a ventilator in the Intensive Care Unit at Kaiser Moanalua.

His mother is resting at her Ewa Beach home with a slight fever and fatigue. She was tested on March 28 and test results received Wednesday confirmed she also has coronavirus.

Both are on a anti-malaria drug that has shown positive effects on patients.

Other family members are awaiting results. All are quarantined.

“We’re on edge,” said Leyton Torda, Coby’s brother and Peggy’s oldest son.

“It’s hard for us because Coby is in the hospital we haven’t been able to see him and because my mom, my step-father and my brother-in-law are in quarantine, we haven’t been able to see them."

Coby Torda, a Waikiki bartender, started feeling ill in early March. He tried fighting it at home but his fever spiked above 103 degrees and he went to the Emergency Room on March 21.

Torda has shown slight improvements. Doctors report that he is requiring less oxygen from the machines, but the next 10 days are crucial in his recovery.

The family wants people to heed the stay-at-home warnings from officials and take the threat seriously.

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