COVID-19 affects teens, too

An+illustration+of+the+COVID-19+novel+coronavirus

Wikimedia Commons

An illustration of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus

Caleb Carter, Staff writer

Although many of the stories in the news about COVID-19 involve adults, teens get the disease, too.

A student at Archbishop Wood High School, Kieran Rich, shared her experience after being diagnosed with the virus back in July. COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, is an infectious disease that mainly tampers with one’s respiratory system. 

She said her experience was overall “boring” because she had to stay in her room for two weeks with no human contact other than her mom. She said, sarcastically, she “began to go crazy” during her 14-day quarantine.

Rich said she “had a fever of 102” on the day she was diagnosed “but after a few days it went down to about 99.5 and never went back up.” For the most part, she was symptomatic for the first four days and the last 10 days of quarantine were just to make sure she did not spread anything.

Rich’s mom said her time caring for Kieran was “brutal.”  Every time she entered her daughter’s room, she had to be careful, making sure to touch as few things as possible.

She also said when leaving the room she made sure to wash her hands, and make sure she sanitized very well. 

Scientists say people of older age are at much higher risk of dying from COVID-19, because of their likely compromised immune system. Fifty-one-year-old Ms. Rich made sure to stay as safe as possible while still caring for her daughter.