HOLLAND, Michigan — A 20-year-old Ottawa County woman who tested positive for COVID-19 is asking young people to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously.
"Just because we're young – we're not immune," Mia Marroquín said. "We're still vulnerable, and our actions have consequences."
The Holland native and junior at St. Mary's College in Indiana traveled to Spain for spring break on March 5. She felt comfortable going, but booked an early flight home after positive cases in the country swelled.
Marroquín self-quarantined when she arrived in Holland. Soon after, she ran a 104-degree fever.
"As the day progressed, I slept on and off; that's when the dry cough started," Marroquín said. "With the cough came the wheezing, the fever, the chills and achiness that progressed for like four days."
It took days to get tested and another five until she learned of her positive result. At 20 years old, Marroquín didn't expect such intense symptoms.
"A lot of what I read was that...young people are going to get through no problem," she said. "But I just remember laying there, and it's like there's a stack of bricks on my chest when I'm trying to breathe. If that's no problem, I can't imagine what problematic would be like."
As of March 27, only 21 percent of Michigan's positive COVID-19 cases are people between 20-39 years old. In Kent County, 30 percent of the 47 confirmed cases are people in their 20s, said Brian Hartl, supervising epidemiologist at the health department.
"We don't have any hospitalized cases in that youngest age group as of yet," Hartl said. "But we are seeing more and more information that the younger populations can definitely be impacted."
Marroquín said her experience is more evidence that young people need to practice social distancing and take direction from health officials during the pandemic.
"What I'm going through isn't unique," she said. "It's happening to so many people and is going to happen to so many people. We know how easily it can spread and the toll it can take."
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