Since we’re still dealing with a difficult disease to pin down, it’s fairly easy to convince yourself that you have COVID-19.
Since its common symptoms are shared by a lot of other, much more minor ailments, it’s hard not to get concerned when we start coughing or when we feel unusually hot. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve erroneously thought I’ve contracted the coronavirus at least five times since the start of the pandemic.
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But while this was simply the result of heightened anxiety from my vigilance, one teen didn’t appear to see any reason why she might be infected until she was presented by some startling and compelling evidence while filming a TikTok video.
When 19-year-old Maryn Short began her TikTok video last week, she thought she had already faced her biggest hurdle to making it.
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.
Once she drove to the right place, Short shared precisely what she had ordered.
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.
However, actually trying the drink left her pretty underwhelmed and she said it had no flavor.
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.”
And it only took a moment for her to realize the taste should have been much stronger for her.
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.
Since Short couldn’t get a rapid test until the following morning, she alerted her mother and employers about the situation and returned home.
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.
This result came as a surprise to Short because she’s been diligent about following public health guidelines.
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.
At first, Short’s mom asked her to take her TikTok down while she was awaiting her test results due to concerns of trivializing the coronavirus.
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.”
Overall, she hopes that her video serves as a fairly light reminder of how easy it is to have the coronavirus without realizing it.
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
