A 20-year Corona woman who worked as a nurse assistant at a skilled nursing facility in Riverside that was the site of a coronavirus outbreak has died after contracting COVID-19, a family member said Monday, April 13.

Valeria Viveros died Friday, April 10, at Corona Regional Medical Center, where she was in the intensive care unit, her aunt, Rafaela Pinto Urrea, wrote on a GoFundMe page set up for the family.

“We never thought that it would happen to her,” Gustavo Urrea, an uncle who lives in Santa Ana, said by phone.

“When she went into the hospital, we thought, ‘She’s young, she’s going to survive because of her age,’” Urrea said Monday. “But the story didn’t go that way for us.”

The family members said Viveros, a Norco High School graduate, was admitted to the hospital Saturday, April 4.

“And she never came back,” Urrea said.

He said Viveros would have turned 21 next month.

In recent days, patients at two skilled care facilities on Magnolia Avenue in Riverside tested positive for the coronavirus. Extended Care Hospital of Riverside and Magnolia Rehabilitation and Nursing Center are next door to each other on Magnolia Avenue, near Adams Street in Riverside. Urrea said he did not know at which facility his niece worked.

At least 26 staff members at Extended Care have tested positive for the virus, while at least 16 staffers at Magnolia Rehabilitation have contracted the virus, county officials have said.

Urrea said Viveros was in isolation. The family received an encouraging report Thursday, April 9, he said, that her oxygen level and blood pressure were normal and her condition was improving.

Then came word Friday morning that his niece had died.

“Oh my God, I couldn’t believe it,” Urrea said.

Pinto Urrea, in the GoFundMe post, wrote that Viveros was working her first job as a nurse assistant.

Viveros “did not have the heart to stay home! She was driven to be with the elderly under her care at a skilled nursing facility in Riverside, in spite of the fact that several patients were infected with COVID-19,” she wrote.

At the same time, Viveros was taking classes at Moreno Valley College, said Robert Schmidt, spokesman for the Riverside Community College District.

“She loved to helped everyone,” said cousin Nancy Viveros, a 24-year-old Garden Grove resident. “She had a very big heart.”

And Nancy Viveros said her cousin’s dream was to become a registered nurse.

Viveros said her cousin loved going to Disneyland, having purchased annual passes the past three years.

“She was thinking of renewing it again, even though the prices have been going up.”

She also loved going to the movies, Nancy Viveros said, and drinking hot chocolate.

Nancy Viveros, an only child, said her cousin was like a sister to her. Their friendship was so close that every day for the past 10 years they would talk, text or FaceTime each other.

“I would call her Val or Sweet Val,” she said.

Nancy Viveros said her cousin’s death underscores the need to adhere to the stay-at-home order to help slow the spread of the coronavirus and the risk that the virus poses to people of all ages.

“Some people don’t take it as seriously as they should,” she said.

Evita Tapia-Gonzalez, spokeswoman for the Corona-Norco Unified School District, said Valeria Viveros graduated from Norco High School in 2017.

“The tragic loss of one of our alumna is devastating news,” Tapia-Gonzalez wrote in an email. “We extend our most sincere condolences to the family during this sad time.”

Valeria Viveros’ aunt and uncle described her as a dedicated person driven to achieve.

“She was a very caring and loving and very humble person,” Urrea said.

The family is devastated, he said.

“It’s just unbelievable,” Urrea said. “She didn’t deserve this at all.”

By late Monday, the GoFundMe campaign had raised more than $19,000.

“Valeria made the ultimate sacrifice for her elderly patients, let’s pull together and sacrifice for her now,” Pinto Urrea wrote.