"It's not a joke:" 17-year-old choir leader believes she and her family caught coronavirus through Texan church

Record ID: 1560361

  • Title: "It's not a joke:" 17-year-old choir leader believes she and her family caught coronavirus through Texan church
  • Date: 2nd July 2020
  • Summary: KATY, TEXAS, UNITED STATES (JULY 1, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) 17-YEAR-OLD KARINA RIVAS, SAYING: "And now that I know what it feels like to have this disease and to be isolated, 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."
  • Embargoed: 16th July 2020 18:58
  • Keywords: COVID-19 Houston Karina Rivas Texas choir church coronavirus
  • Location: KATY, TEXAS / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS
  • City: KATY, TEXAS / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA006CL495JB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: When official orders were given to reopen churches in Texas at the beginning of May, 17-year-old Karina Rivas rejoiced. She was looking forward to singing and spending time with longtime friends who shared her faith.
    She never thought her entire family and other churchgoers would catch coronavirus.
    Karina thinks she got infected when the social gatherings restarted.
    "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," Karina told Reuters on Wednesday (July 1), who is the choir leader at the church in Katy, Texas, just 29 miles from Houston.
    At the Rivas household, everyone has COVID-19. Karina's mother and sister have recovered but her father is struggling. He was hospitalized, but sent home due to limited bed capacity.
    "Unfortunately my dad hasn't gotten any better. He's a kidney transplant patient and he has a lot of trouble with his immune system and the defenses in his body. So, he's been really bad. He's gone to the hospital, but there is no cure. There is nothing they can do. So that's that's probably one of the things that worries me the most. But other than that, the rest of my family has recovered and is doing okay," said Karina.
    On Wednesday, Texas reported 8,076 new cases with a total of 6,904 hospitalizations.
    For now, Karina and her family have decided to practice faith at home.
    "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," added Karina.
    (Production: Norma Galeana)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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