While the COVID-19 Pandemic has been at the forefront of everyone’s minds for the past year due to the lockdowns and quarantine, the most significant and memorable is of the people who contracted the virus itself. There have been almost 29 million cases in the US, but some SPA students have gotten it too. Senior Milo Waltenbaugh was one of these, and he got it during the crux of the COVID-19 peak.

“I got COVID on July 13th. I started feeling symptoms two days later on the 15th, and immediately went to receive a COVID test. My results came back two days later as positive,” said Waltenbaugh. “I experienced many traditional COVID symptoms: a low grade fever, chills and hot flashes, and minor headaches. My sense of smell has still not fully recovered.”

COVID-19 symptoms are more milder, or even non-existent, on the younger population, while it can be deadly on the elderly or immunocompromised. Waltenbaugh luckily didn’t suffer much due to his young age. “The symptoms only lasted about 4 days, and I would argue that it was not very severe for me,” said Waltenbaugh.

One signifying factor of COVID-19 is how infective it is. Because of this, a young person who is not getting very ill to the disease may spread it to countless other people, who may be vulnerable. Although Waltenbaugh’s symptoms weren’t severe, he had to change his daily life after getting diagnosed with COVID-19. “I had to leave my job at The Kenwood, which is an old folks home,” said Waltenbaugh. “They are especially at risk to COVID.”

Since he got the virus during the summer, Waltenbaugh didn’t have to deal with potential risks at school. However, the summer was a peak for COVID, making it a scary time to be experiencing the illness. Also, there was no sign of a vaccine at the time, and there were a lot of debates on non-evidence based treatment options. All that he could do was quarantine. “It was a bad time to get COVID, somewhat early on in the situation. Getting the virus just made me realize how easily the virus can spread, and the speed at which it can do so,” said Waltenbaugh. “I quarantined in my room for 10 days after the first symptom, and none of my family members transmitted it. My social life just died for two weeks, which was fine. I wanted to lay in bed anyways.”