WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — Of the 151 new COVID-19 cases health leaders are reporting this week, almost 100 of those are individuals in the younger age categories.

Wichita Falls-Wichita County’s Assistant Health Director Amy Fagan said these were the numbers they were seeing before schools reopened in August but they continue to remind younger age groups they are not immune or invincible.

Wichita Falls resident Jessica Edwards said it was a terrifying experience and as if the virus itself wasn’t scary enough she developed complications following her recovery.

Edwards said she was caught off guard when she learned she tested positive for the virus that has now taken the life of 449 Wichita County residents.

“My situation was a little bit different because I went in for surgery, from surgery I developed blood clots a few days later and then I was hospitalized for three days with blood clots,” Edwards said. “The day I got out of the hospital, the second day, I tested positive for COVID.”

Edwards, who was not vaccinated because of an underlying health issue, said she was not tested for the virus before her surgery.

Edwards said she was hospitalized for ten-days, spending her 35th birthday on the COVID floor.

“The week before surgery I didn’t come to work, I stayed at home, I did everything I needed to do to make sure that I didn’t contract the virus before I went into surgery; I knew how important that was,” Edwards said. “Day one I had no symptoms, day two I was coughing. I couldn’t breathe, and firemen came and got me out of bed, so it just turns so quickly, and you don’t know if you’re going to the be one that can get over it really quickly or if you’re going to end up being the one that is hospitalized for it.”

Fagan said while they are not seeing an increasing number of new cases among younger people, they are seeing more severe outcomes.

“You could be young, and you could feel healthy, and you could not have what you perceive to be underlying health conditions that would cause bad outcomes with COVID, but that doesn’t mean you’re protected against it,” Fagan said. “It doesn’t mean that you won’t die.”

Even though she survived her battle with the virus, Edwards is still dealing with post-COVID-19 complications.

“It made me Anemic, and I had no idea that that was even something that could happen afterward, so I have been getting iron infusions through my Hematologist, and it has really helped,” Edwards said.

Edwards warns residents COVID-19 can get bad, and it gets bad really fast.

Edwards also encourages folks to continue to get checked by their physicians, even after they’ve recovered from the virus.