- Wilber Portillo of Denver, Colorado, died on November 19, and a few days later his COVID-19 test was positive.
- The 18-year-old test was positive for COVID-19 during the first week of October, but he was quarantined for a month, then recovered and was negative, Fox reported.
- He fell ill in November, went to the doctor for a COVID-19 test and died in his sleep that night, according to his family’s GoFundMe.
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Wilber Portillo was feeling well a month after the test was positive for COVID-19. The 18-year-old from Denver was quarantined for a month after testing positive for the virus in the first week of October, reported Fox Denver 31.
Portillo’s girlfriend Andrea Ferrel told Fox Denver 31 that she thought she had developed immunity after recovering, but in the second week of November Portillo fell ill again.
His condition worsened and Portillo went to the doctor on November 18, where he was diagnosed with a severe respiratory infection and tested for COVID-19.
Portillo died in his sleep that night. Two days later, his COVID-19 test was positive, the family said.
His cousin and Ferrel told Fox Denver 31 that they believe he contracted the virus for the second time after recovering from his first fight with COVID-19.
Scientists are still working to determine whether it is possible to have COVID-19 active for a long period of time with severe outbreaks. Long-distance COVID-19, or people who have experienced the symptoms of the virus for months, have formed a community around their struggles to deal with long-term COVID-19.
Tests can also provide false negative results for COVID-19.
Read More: COVID-19 killed thousands of young Americans. This is not a tragedy just for the elderly.
COVID-19 doesn’t just affect older people
Portillo is among an impressive number of young people who died of COVID-19, despite the common misconception that the virus is generally only dangerous for the elderly.
Although the virus is 90 times more likely to kill someone aged 65 or older than someone aged 20 to 29, young people are still dying at an alarming rate due to the virus, previously reported Aylin Woodward and Susie Neilson of Business Insider.
“Just because you are young, you are not immune to this and, although we see more cases with older people and people with health problems and even people without health problems. It is important that you stay at home,” said Ferrel. Fox Denver 31.
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