EPIDEMIOLOGY PRIMER

Why Some People Get COVID and Others Don’t

Introducing the COVID causal pie

At the beginning of March, my mom came down with COVID-19. She ended up being one of the first confirmed cases in Michigan; because her symptoms started so early on in the pandemic timeline, we thought it was the flu at first.

How I Nearly Lost My Mom to COVID

We were very, very wrong.

After a month of ups and downs, double-lung pneumonia, zero appetite, breathing treatment machines, two hospitalizations, and a positive COVID test, my mom finally started to get better.

As of today, my mom is nearly 100%, and all of us are beyond grateful. We know how differently things could have gone.

Watching my mom suffer through the worst illness of her life, I wondered: why did she get COVID when I didn’t?

This question only loomed larger when my recent antibody test came back negative.