CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Both North and South Carolina are continuing to report increases in coronavirus cases among young people. South Carolina is reporting nearly one in five confirmed cases are in the 21-30 age group.
Meanwhile, North Carolina says people 24 and under represent the fastest-growing group of positive tests.
WCNC Charlotte spoke with a 23-year old Charlotte woman about her terrifying fight with COVID-19 and her message to others since her recovery.
“I’m getting a little emotional thinking about it,” Madeline Toy said.
Toy works at a marketing agency in Charlotte and has been working from home for more than four months.
“I started having a little bit of a fever,” Toy described. “I started getting a cough, but I didn’t think too much of it.”
Toy says her fever persisted and the next day she went to a drive-thru clinic where she tested positive for COVID-19. Five days later she was admitted to the hospital.
“I remember the night before the hospital I was signing over the beneficiary information for my sister and my mom,” Toy said. “That was one of the hardest parts to try and stomach.”
She spent three days in the hospital with pneumonia in both lungs and her fever was running on a week and a half straight.
“I had never felt that bad before in my life,” Toy said. “Things just weren’t looking good for me at that moment.”
She was part of a clinical trial for a new drug, and within a couple of days, her condition improved enough to go home. Eighteen days after testing positive, Mecklenburg County cleared her from self-isolation.
“It seems like everyone just got bored of the virus, and it just doesn’t exist anymore,” Toy said.
As more and more people leave their homes and resume their daily lives, she hopes they practice social distancing and wear masks to protect themselves, but also others.
“I would say that your life isn’t the only one that matters here,” Toy said.