Roxanne Khamsi

On July 22, Natalie Forouzad was dreaming of finally leaving the basement of her parents’ house in North Carolina. She used to begin most days with a six-mile run, but for the last 43 days, she hadn’t ventured much past the basement walls. Her ordeal began in early June when she started feeling fatigued and got feverish chills. Forouzad, a 20-year-old college student who is poised to begin her senior year at East Carolina University, had been staying since March with her parents, who are in their fifties, and wanted to ensure that she didn’t have the novel coronavirus. So, she went to her doctor on June 9 and received a test for Covid-19. The result came back two days later and confirmed that she had the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease. Breathing became more difficult for her over the next couple weeks. Her resting heart rate hovered around 110 beats per minute at times while she struggled. “It felt like there was a pillow over my face for a week,” she said. “It scares you — you wonder, ‘Am I going to go to sleep and not wake up?’”