18-year-old dies after being re-infected with COVID-19, family say

• Wilber Portillo, of Denver, Colorado, died on November 19 and a few days later his COVID-19 test came back positive.
• The 18-year-old tested positive for COVID-19 in the first week of October, but was quarantined for a month, then recovered and tested negative, Fox reported.
• He fell ill in November, went to the doctor for a COVID-19 test and died in his sleep that night, according to his family’s GoFundMe.
• Visit the Insider home page for more stories.

Wilber Portillo was feeling good a month after testing positive for COVID-19. The 18-year-old from Denver had been quarantined for a month after testing positive for the virus the first week of October, Fox Denver reported 31.

Andrea Ferrel, Portillo’s girlfriend, told Fox Denver 31 that he believed he had developed immunity after he recovered, but in the second week of November Portillo fell ill again.

His condition worsened and Portillo went to the doctor on November 18 where he was diagnosed with a severe respiratory infection and tested for COVID-19.

Portillo died in his sleep that night. Two days later, her COVID-19 test came back positive, the family said.

His cousin and Ferrel both told Fox Denver 31 that they believe he contracted the virus for the second time after recovering from his first bout of COVID-19.

Scientists are still working to determine if it is possible to have COVID-19 active for an extended period of time with severe flare-ups. Long haul COVID-19, or people who have exhibited symptoms of the virus for months, have formed a community around their struggles to cope with COVID-19 in the long term.

Tests can also give false negative results for COVID-19.

Read more: COVID-19 has killed thousands of young Americans. It is not just a tragedy for the elderly.

COVID-19 doesn’t just affect the elderly

Portillo is among a striking number of young people who have died from COVID-19, despite the common misconception that the virus is generally only dangerous to the elderly.

While the virus is 90 times more likely to kill someone 65 or older than someone 20-29, young people are still dying at an alarming rate from the virus, previously reported Aylin Woodward and Susie Neilson of Business Insider .

“It is only because you are young that you are not immune and although we are seeing more cases with the elderly and people with health problems and even people without health problems. It’s important that you stay home, ”Ferrel told Fox Denver 31.