By Lynn Juliano / Photos by Matt Gush
“I try to treat my patients how I hope my grandmother was treated in her dying hours.”
- Roxanne Aguirre, nursing student
When Roxanne Aguirre began coughing, she knew she had contracted the virus. She had mild symptoms: a cough, chest pain and a sore throat at first. As the days progressed, she lost her sense of taste and smell. She monitored her vitals daily, but never spiked a fever or experienced desaturation in oxygen levels.
Her fears were confirmed: She tested positive for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that has amassed to more than 60 million cases and 1 million deaths worldwide since its outbreak in December 2019.