MEMPHIS, Tenn. — There are currently 1,200 positive tests of COVID-19 in Shelby County and just under 4.5% of them are people twenty-years-old or younger.
University of Memphis student and Germantown native, Kayley Watkins, is finally feeling healthy, more than two weeks after testing positive for COVID-19.
"I'm just really thankful that I'm okay. I'm scared to get it again so I have not left my house," Watkins said from her bedroom.
In early March, Watkins was on spring break with her friends and boyfriend in Panama City. She said they ended their trip early due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
"I'm glad we did just because I would have exposed more people if I did get it at the beach so I'm really thankful that we just left and went home and I didn't go anywhere," she said.
It was shortly after getting home that Watkins said she began to feel sick. She said it started with severe stomach cramps and then the symptoms progressed daily to a running nose, dry cough, and chest pain before she lost all sense of smell and taste.
Watkins then went to get tested for COVID-19. A few days later, her test came back positive for the virus.
"I went to bed and I kept having a super tight chest and I felt like I couldn't breath," Watkins recounts.
Watkins is considered at a higher-risk for the virus. As she explains, she has a compromised immune system due to a connective tissue disorder.
Because of having previous medical issues, Watkins said it made it easier for her to deal with the symptoms which she said lasted about two weeks.
"I would say it was definitely manageable but I also think that has to do with always kind of dealing with health stuff," she said. "I feel like if I didn't already have a compromised immune system as someone who would have gotten it would have not understood how to handle the pain."
According to Watkins, she took a trial drug to treat the virus that involved drops under the tongue.
"Two years ago, I took a test trial drug with a doctor and we just let him know that I did have COVID-19 and he actually had a medicine that was also already going through trial for another thing that was already passed through the FDA," she said. "He wanted to try it for COVID-19. Twelve other people had already tried it so he was able to give it to me and I was able to recover in like 48 hours, 32 hours."
Watkins message to other young adults is to stay home.
"Please, it's not worth it. It was not fun and I'm thankful that when the CDC called me, I wasn't embarrassed to say where I was and who I had been with and I think it's just important that you stay home," she said. "You'll have your time back in a few months."
