A Denver teen has died after battling COVID-19 for the second time, his loved ones said.
Wilber Portillo, 18, first contracted the infectious disease after traveling with his cousin on a trip to Los Angeles, the Denverite reported.
Two months after recovering from the virus, he was apparently affected again and had a fever after a party where two other people tested positive for COVID-19, the media reported.
Portillo went to the doctor’s office on Nov. 18, where he was told he had a “very strong lung infection.”
“It simply came to our notice then [time] I heard about him, “Portillo’s girlfriend Andrea Ferrel told KDVR.
That night, the teenager died asleep, according to outlets.
“It’s a little hard to know that he no longer physically exists,” Castillo told Denverite. “He was a boy with a lot of light.”
It is not known what caused his death, but the doctor’s office informed his family two days after he had tested positive for the virus.
“It took us by surprise how it happened,” Castillo said. “We will never find out what caused his death.”
Reports did not confirm whether Castillo, an urban farmer and a budding businessman, had fallen ill with a mutated strain of the virus.
Health experts have said reinfection is possible, but cases are rare.
Portillo’s cousin, Jamie Gómez-González, urges people to take the virus seriously, “no matter how young or healthy it may seem.”
“Please stay home as long as you can,” he wrote on a GoFundMe page to cover funeral expenses.