(by Don Meador, September 2021)
Across the Commonwealth and the country, cases of COVID continue to rise---cases fueled by the more contiguous Delta variant. As the surge continues, the number of COVID cases being seen in children 18 and under is also on the rise.
Locally, over 1,000 new COVID cases have been confirmed since August 5 with Allen County Health Director Scott Williams adding a sobering fact.
“At least 200 of those cases are in children 18 and under,” Williams shared last week with the Scottsville-Allen County COVID Task Force. The number has risen and continues to rise. For example, statewide last Friday, over 1,400 COVID cases were confirmed in children 18 and under.
Fortunately, most child cases result in mild to moderate symptoms. Usually, child cases result in several days of flu-like symptoms---a low grade fever, tiredness, body aches, headaches, and perhaps a cough and congestion. For most children, bed rest and over the counter medicine relieve the symptoms and a return to normal activities can come once the patient’s required quarantine period ends.
However, that is not always the case. Just ask a well-known student athlete at Allen County-Scottsville. Like her peers, Chloe Cook has lived daily with school and athletic life impacted by the pandemic. However, for the past 10 months, the AC-SH senior has been directly impacted by the illness and it’s life-altering after effects.
Last year at this time, Chloe Cook and her volleyball teammates were doing everything possible to remain COVID free and make it through the 2020 volleyball season. Cook had witnessed her friends in softball, baseball, track, and tennis lose their 2020 spring season after the KHSAA canceled the seasons amidst COVID concerns. But, COVID wasn’t just impacting her school life---it was a daily part of the life of the then-16-year old.
Cook’s mother, Melisa, is a nurse at the Medical Center at Scottsville. Hence, the seriousness of the disease and the reality of the situation was present in the Cook home. Still, Chloe pressed on taking the precautions recommended by her mother and the health care community.
“In volleyball, we couldn’t do anything in June of 2020 but by July we could go outside to condition,” Cook recalled. “We went to the tennis courts and we did ladder drills and what we could to get ourselves physically ready for the season.”
The season would be like no other. With the KHSAA implantmenting strict controls, practice and later play would look extremely different.
“When we finally got back in the gym, we all had our own ball,” Cook explained. “We had one partner, one ball, and we followed all the guidelines. And then, another shutdown. We couldn’t play in August and could only practice a couple days a week. By mid September we finally got back to playing.”
Games resumed but limitations were everywhere. The team could not play in their normal tournaments, benches were spaced out, and masks were required at all times except for when players were on the floor. The reality of the situation was a daily concern.
“We all realized that our volleyball season could be taken in the blink of an eye,” Cook said.
The Lady Patriot volleyball team was able to complete the 2020 season without a team wide shutdown due to COVID. However, a couple of players were forced to the sidelines for individual quarantines but, overall, the season was an “enjoyment” simply because the team was able to play and complete the year.
“In the grand scheme, we were happy to play and very fortunate to get in the season,” Cook explained.
Volleyball season ended in late October. For Cook, her attention immediately turned to her junior year of basketball. A starter who was poised for a breakout season, expectations abounded for what the 20-21 season would bring---even in the midst of the ongoing pandemic. Then, COVID entered the life of the active student-athlete in a very unexpected way.
“The football team was in the playoffs,” Cook shared. “We were headed to Franklin County on Friday night. I rode with a family to the game. The father found out that he had been exposed.”
Yet, Cook admitted that, at that point, she wasn’t concerned.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” Cook admitted. “I was around my mom everyday and she was working right in the middle of it. So I didn’t think a single thing about it. The next day, the father who was exposed stayed home (awaiting test results) but I went back to Frankfort with the family. I wore my mask but not in the car, I didn’t think anything of it. The next day, the father found out he was positive.”
With school out and basketball practice delayed by the KHSAA (due to a rise in cases statewide), Cook entered a self-imposed isolation period, just to keep her extended family and friends safe. However, within days, her symptoms appeared.
“I decided to stay home and not go anywhere thinking everything will be fine,” Cook recalled. “But, the following Sunday night, I was eating dinner with my family and the food just didn’t taste right. It kind of felt like I had sinus drainage and it tasted funny. Later, I got cold. We checked my temperature. I had a low grade fever. On Monday, December 8, I woke up with the worst headache, backaches, body aches, chills, neaursa. Everything you could have as a symptom of COVID, I had that morning.”
Cook had contracted COVID. She remained in quarantine for two weeks with “constant headaches and constant body aches.”
“School was online but I could not raise myself up to do the work,” Cook admitted. “I had a fever above 102 for about a week and above 101 for another week. It was one thing after another.”
Then, additional symptoms came into play as the original COVID symptoms began to decline.
“After the body headaches were gone, I thought I was on the other side of it,” Cook said. “But, I knew I had been having some heart rates and blood pressure problems. I would stand up and feel like I was about to fall so I had to sit back down. I would get dizzy and light headed. I told mom. She would check my heart rate and blood pressure. She said she had seen this and that we would take care of it. We monitored it.”
After the COVID quarantine passed, Cook realized that additional problems were also coming into play.
“On Christmas day we went to my family’s house in Tompkinsville,” Cook explained. “I was opening gifts and I got unbearably hot.I went outside and sat in the snow. Mom checked my heart rate and it was 155, just from opening presents. That night at home, it happened again. Early the next day, I had a persistent sharp pain in my chest. We went to the ER. They did a CT scan with contrast and it turned out I had pneumonia in my left lung.They can tell if it's from COVID in that it looks like you have dropped a rock on a piece of glass and the glass shattered. So when they saw the scan, they knew what it was, COVID pneumonia.”
Being down with COVID had kept her away from the return of basketball practice in mid December. Now, the COVID pneumonia would mean another delay before she could resume her normal activities. She would be sidelined for at least two more weeks while her body healed.
“After two weeks, my family doctor allowed me to start working out to get back into shape, after all, I had been out for almost a month and a half,” Cook noted. “I was still monitoring my heart rate, my O2 stats. I started to run again on the treadmill and it felt good to just not be lying on the couch. But my heart rate was still high. When I got off the treadmill that day, it hit me hard. But, I drank some water and everything seemed to be fine.”
However, the heart rate and blood pressure problems persisted.
“On January 23, I woke up with my heart rate up, blood pressure low,” Cook said. “My family doctor then scheduled an appointment for me with a cardiologist. We went to see her in Louisville in early February.”
At that point, her cardiologist examined all the test results and delivered some very discouraging news .
“She said that medically you don’t need to be playing basketball at this time,” Cook recalled. “I realized that I love my sports but in order to keep myself healthy, I needed to give it up. She said for six to eight weeks, I needed to give up sports which meant no running and no playing. So, I was forced to sit and watch basketball from the sidelines. It was awful but I was still glad to be there. I wanted to be there for my teammates”
After six weeks of rest, Cook was released to return to conditioning activities in early March. However, with the time needed to recondition herself, Cook knew she could not make it back for the conclusion of the 2021 basketball season but still pushed herself to at least be in a position to try.
“I was placed on two medications and I’m still taking today,” Cook said. “One helps keep my heart rate down and the other helps with my sodium and water intake. She told me that if I wanted to go 100% on the court, I had to take the medications. She said if not, I could pass out. So, I’m willing to take two medicines to play my sports.”
In terms of basketball, Cook was given permission to play in the Lady Patriots’ district game but coach Greg Dunn elected not to risk her health for a few minutes of court time. Hence, COVID and the resulting complications had cost Cook her entire junior year on the basketball court---a side effect beyond the medical problems Cook was experiencing.
“I told my dad then that I was going to do everything I can to get ready for volleyball,” Cook added.. “I was going to just lie around for three months. I began to work to get back into shape.”
Cook is quick to explain when asked that her two-week bout with COVID last December is the cause of her heart and blood pressure problems---a by-product of COVID that is being seen in children in some cases across the country.
“As far as I know, I had no problems with my heart before COVID,” Cook explained. “I never had chest pains, never really had headaches. I never had anything related to blood pressure. There were no underlying conditions whatsoever.”
Cook adds that she was not officially diagnosed with POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) but her symptoms are very close to the condition that medical researchers continue to investigate as related to COVID. According to John Hopkins University, POTS isn’t directly a cardiac problem, but a neurologic one that affects the part of the nervous system that regulates heart rate and blood flow. The syndrome can cause rapid heartbeats when you stand up, which can lead to brain fog, fatigue, palpitations, lightheadedness and other symptoms.
Today, Cook has returned to playing volleyball and is also eager to get back on the basketball court this winter. Still, her COVID experience has left the senior with the need for daily medication in order to prevent a recurrence of heart rate and blood pressure issues. .
“I have to take my meds at a certain time every morning,” Cook said. “I do have some days that if I take my meds late or I don’t drink enough water, I get really dizzy and hot, and feel like I’m about to pass out. I was getting that often before the medication but since, its helped significantly. Every now or again, if I’m off on my meds, it sometimes occurs.”
At this time last year, a COVID vaccine was months away from becoming available. From the start, health officials realized that a vaccine can not entirely prevent someone from contracting COVID but was expected to lessen the chances of hospitalization or death. The vaccine became available in mid to late December for health care professionals and to others as 2021 unfolded.
Today, anyone 12 and above can take a COVID vaccine. However, in Allen County, only 35% of the population has taken a vaccine. Reasons for not getting the shot range from fear of side effects, concerns over the speedy development of the vaccines, or the unknown of possible long term effects.
Cook admits that she has taken the vaccine even though having COVID left her with natural immunity for a time.
“From me personally there was no hesitancy in getting the vaccine,” Cook admitted. “I done my research. I knew my mom had taken the shot and didn’t have any side effects and I also know others who never had side effects. I was like if I do have side effects, it can’t be any worse than the COVID I went through and still going through. My mom told me that it can’t be any worse than what I went through. If there is any way that getting vaccinated can prevent this from happening again, I would take the shot 100 times.There was no doubt in my mind that I needed it after I researched it, talked to my mom and others.”
Cook encourages everyone to consider getting vaccinated as a way to perhaps prevent them from experiencing the severity of COVID and/or long term conditions.
“Honestly, most people my age who I know that have had COVID have had a headache for a couple of days, low-grade fever, sinus problems, and symptoms almost like the flu,” Cook admitted. “But, one person’s dad talked about how his daughter was going through the same thing as I was except it was high blood pressure problems. That was the opposite of mine but it was COVID. Nobody really knows what it's going to do. She was having the same problems as I do.”
Again, Cook urged everyone 12 and above to consider the vaccine.
“Personally, I would recommend the vaccine,” Cook said. “I would not wish my sickness upon anybody. I wouldn’t put that on anybody. If the vaccine can prevent the symptoms from being that bad for someone, I would say 100% to get it.”
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