Teen Discovers She Has COVID-19 While Filming Starbucks Taste Test TikTok

As she states at the beginning of her video, she had made a mobile order for a Starbucks drink that another TikTok user had recommended and found herself at the wrong location.

As she told Buzzfeed News, the presence of the whipped cream and the large amount of vanilla syrup and caramel added to the drink gave her the impression that it would taste incredibly sweet.

As she later explained to Buzzfeed News, "It was almost like I was drinking sweet milk. I could tell it was sweet, but there was no flavor at all. It was really strange. It’s hard to describe."

As the video goes on, she asks "why can't I taste it?" before asking herself whether she has COVID-19.

As the video ends, she starts laughing nervously at the realization that if she can't taste this drink, she probably can't taste anything.

Although a fever and frequent coughing are the most common symptoms for COVID-19, the CDC has also identified that a new loss in the ability to taste and smell are among the common symptoms as well.

And sure enough, Short revealed in a follow-up video that her rapid test results came back positive, which she told Buzzfeed News she confirmed with a more thorough test after the fact.

As she told Buzzfeed News, she works three part-time jobs but aside from going to those workplaces and to the grocery store, she's done her part to stay home.

If there's any luck to be had for her thus far, she also said she hasn't experienced many COVID-19 symptoms aside from her issues with taste and some stuffiness. She also said she hadn't experienced a fever in a follow-up video but has since developed one that seemed to abate fairly quickly.

But after she discussed her incident with her friends, she was convinced to put the video back up and ended up receiving 100,000 likes by the following day. The video has since amassed close to 800,000 likes and 3.4 million views.

As Short said, "I’m glad I did put [the TikTok] back up because a lot of people that were commenting said I made people realize they should get tested. Whenever people think of COVID, especially kids my age, we’re told to please stay safe for our elders. I don’t think people think about people in their teens or twenties getting COVID."

As she said, "COVID is not funny, but I thought the video itself was funny because...I have very unfortunate events that constantly happen to me. I was like, 'Of course something like this would happen to me.'"

h/t: Buzzfeed News