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'It can happen to anyone': Healthy 18-year-old boy issues warning after being hospitalized with coronavirus as he reveals doctors initially refused to perform the test on him and sent him home

An 18-year-old boy from Iowa who never thought he would get coronavirus 'in a million years', has said he felt like he was 'hi...

An 18-year-old boy from Iowa who never thought he would get coronavirus 'in a million years', has said he felt like he was 'hit by a truck' and has warned other young people 'it can happen to anyone'.
Dimitri Mitchell started showing symptoms of COVID-19 on March 13, when he developed a high fever of 105 degrees and a cough.
'I was bedridden all day and I felt totally drained ... my eyes wouldn't stop watering, I had the worst headache I've ever experienced and my cough was just getting worse and worse,' Mitchell told Good Morning America.
'It's the most sick I've ever been and I told my mom I felt like I was hit by a truck.'
Mitchell added: 'Each time you would cough, it hurts, and you have that burning sensation.'
In Iowa, there were at least 869 cases of coronavirus and 22 deaths as of Monday morning.
Iowa boy Dimitri Mitchell, 18, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on March 17
Iowa boy Dimitri Mitchell, 18, tested positive for the novel coronavirus on March 17
'I was bedridden all day and I felt totally drained ... my eyes wouldn't stop watering, I had the worst headache I've ever experienced' he told GMA it began
'I was bedridden all day and I felt totally drained ... my eyes wouldn't stop watering, I had the worst headache I've ever experienced' he told GMA it began
His mother Irena Yoder took him to the emergency room where she works as a lab technician and he was tested for strep, the flu and pneumonia. 
All of the results returned negative. He was also given a steroid shot as treatment.
Yoder explained that due to his age, the boy of Tiffin didn't qualify to have a coronavirus test, according to Iowa Department of Public Health and State Hygienic Lab criteria.
'I was really concerned that it was coronavirus,' Yoder told GMA. 'He [wasn't] meeting criteria to have this test done on him. They said, "He's under 60 years old and he will find his body is strong and he will fight this." So, they sent us home.'
Yoder stayed home with her son – a student at community college – but that night his symptoms worsened. 
She said she had an inkling he was sick with coronavirus.
'He was sweating with a fever, his eyes were so swollen,' Yoder said. 'He was breathing hard. He could barely walk. He could barely speak. He was like, "Mom what do I have?"'
'I was trying to cheer him up saying, "It's going to be OK." Deep inside, I was so worried.' 
The mother added: 'I would go afterwards and cry in my bedroom or just listen behind his door and in our hallway, how well he’s doing, but I would never show to him I was so worried. I wanted to keep myself positive.' 
He added he was 105 degrees and 'my cough was just getting worse and worse'
He was sent home from hospital twice before he was tested
He added he was 105 degrees and 'my cough was just getting worse and worse'. He was sent home from hospital twice before he was tested
He initially wasn't tested because he was under the age of 60 but after a call to 211, an operator recommended he be tested
He initially wasn't tested because he was under the age of 60 but after a call to 211, an operator recommended he be tested
The student is a part-time grocery store clerk
He thinks he may have contracted the virus at work
The student is a part-time grocery store clerk and thinks he may have contracted the virus at work
The mother took him back to the ER the following day on March 16.
They returned to hospital a second time.
'The doctor told us because I didn’t have any problems breathing, the reason they were sending us home was because they didn’t want me to potentially spread the virus to other people,' Mitchell explained to KCRG
He was only tested after a recommendation from the Iowa Department of Health's 211 hotline and the results for COVID-19 were positive.
Although initial advice positioned the virus as something to particularly watch out for in older people, more cases around the world have shown young people getting seriously ill and dying.
About 29 percent of cases are in people aged 20 to 44, according to the CDC and Mitchell's age group, people aged 19 and under, represent five percent of cases.
'Every 10 to 15 mins I was checking on him because he was breathing so hard and I was so scared,' Yoder said.
'I never thought my son would get it. He was perfectly healthy, playing sports. So what we'll learn [is] it can hit any age of people. It doesn't ask permission.'
At the time of his GMA interview, Mitchell had been without a fever for a week and was recovering.
He left a warning for other people his age to take the coronavirus seriously and stick to social distancing guidelines.
The part-time grocery store clerk believes he may have contracted it at work, although his mother said he was extra careful and constantly washing his hands.
'Even when I heard that it spread to my home state, I still never thought that I would get it -- never in a million years,' Mitchell said on a video call. 'Being 18 and hearing about all the headlines saying it only affects older people, it gave me even more false security I guess. I thought I could go out and be perfectly fine.
'I think no matter what your age is regardless if you have health conditions or not, make sure you follow the social distancing guidelines. Don't treat it like you're immune and you can't get affected.'
Mitchell was cleared from quarantine this Saturday and went for a walk for the first time in two weeks. 
Yoder has started to display symptoms but is unable to get a test. 
Mitchell said he didn't think he was was at risk
Even his mother was surprised he got ill
Mitchell said he didn't think he was was at risk and even his mother was surprised he got ill, they said in a video chat
Irena Yoder is a lab technician at the hospital where the boy was treated and says she is currently displaying coronavirus symptoms but cannot get a test
Irena Yoder is a lab technician at the hospital where the boy was treated and says she is currently displaying coronavirus symptoms but cannot get a test

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