Kaitlyn Covert’s cousin died from the flu at age 4 — a few years before Covert was born. Growing up, her family adamantly warned others about the dangers of the flu. Covert, 19, never thought she could face the same fate.
She got her flu shot yearly without question. But last October, she postponed. Having moved from Philadelphia to Gainesville, Florida, summer weather extended into early flu season. She was still settling into her freshman year at the University of Florida, and while she always intended to get vaccinated, it “didn’t feel urgent.” Young people have always been encouraged to protect themselves and their communities from the flu by getting vaccinated, but many don’t think they are at risk of severe illness, according to Covert.
When she started feeling ill, Covert chalked it up to the “frat flu,” a term used by college students to describe the common cold that spreads throughout dorms and parties. She was otherwise healthy and had no underlying conditions. “That’s kind of normal in my experience at college,” she says. “(Among) most of my friends, it’s very rare for all of us, or any of us, to feel 100%.” But as her symptoms progressed and she navigated her first “real” sickness away from home, her mom encouraged her to go to urgent care. At the time, Hurricane Milton had just hit Florida’s Gulf Coast, leaving the eerily empty campus feeling like a “ghost town.” Covert tested positive for both strains A and B of the flu, which is rare. She was suffering from the worst headache she’d experienced “in her life,” her blood pressure was concernedly low, and her heart rate had skyrocketed into the 200s (the average heart rate for ages 18 to 20 is 81.6 bpm).
She went into sepsis, a life-threatening condition that occurs when the body’s infection-fighting processes turn on itself, causing the organs to work poorly. Her lungs, kidneys, liver and other organs were at risk of damage, and she was sent to the emergency room for immediate treatment.
