‘It's not a joke’: Teen choir leader, family contract COVID
17-year-old Karina Rivas is a choir leader at her local church in Katy, Texas, about 29 miles from Houston.
When orders were given to reopen churches in Texas at the beginning of May, Rivas was elated, looking forward to singing and spending time with friends.
And with the re-opening of church - came social activities too.
But soon after, she, her entire family and other members of her church contracted coronavirus.
"A church member of ours that was also our friend, it so happened that we went out to dinner one night and he was feeling particularly sick. And we didn't really take precautions as to, you know, if you feel sick, stay home. And that's two days later, that's when I started feeling sick."
Her father - a kidney transplant patient- was hospitalized at one point, but was sent home due to limited bed capacity.
Texas has seen coronavirus cases soar in recent weeks and on Monday reported a record number of hospitalizations.
Karina says she and her family are recovering now, they have good and bad days.
"The way I've been affected is not only have I showed symptoms like, you know, headache or nausea or my lungs, you know, did, were affected by it, but also mentally. Having to quarantine myself or having to be isolated is probably one of the things that affected me most."
Rivas, who previously thought only adults could contract the virus, urged others, especially young people, to take the virus seriously.
"I can say that, you know, it's not a joke. It's not something that we should take lightly, and it's very serious. And I didn't understand the seriousness of it until I experienced it myself."
As for their faith, Karina and her family have decided to practice faith at home for now.
"You know, in order to keep my faith growing, I had really took a stance on going to church and that was really helping me grow in my faith. But now that I don't have that opportunity, I have to take my own measures and grow myself and see how I can do that,"
