More Massachusetts Residents Than Ever Have The Coronavirus. Where They Caught It Is The Mystery

Madelyn Pineda-Alvarez contracted COVID-19, and it’s still a mystery how she got it. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Like many people who get COVID-19, Maddy Alvarez, a 35-year-old Revere resident, can’t be certain how the coronavirus got into her home. But once it did, it was uncontainable.

First, her husband Marco came down with it. He had muscle aches and a fever, but he had also experienced those symptoms just a few weeks prior. He tested negative then, so they didn’t worry too much or take any special precautions.

“It was funny because he thought he had it. He had all the symptoms, but he tested negative,” Alvarez says. “So, this time we weren’t that worried.”

Then, a few days later, Alvarez’s perfume mysteriously lost its fragrance. She rushed to ask her daughters to ask if they could smell it: They could. When she walked to the polls on Election Day to cast her vote, her body began to feel heavy. It was like she was dragging weights through the wind, she says.

Read the rest of this story at WBUR’s website.