19-Year-Old Discovers COVID Infection While Filming TikTok Taste-Test at Starbucks

A 19-year-old TikTok user realized she might have been infected with the coronavirus while filming a new video about trying a super sweet Starbucks drink. When Maryn Short tasted the iced coffee, which had five pumps of vanilla syrup and three pumps of caramel flavoring, she did not taste anything. Short later tested positive for the virus and has been quarantining for the past week at home.

The now-viral TikTok video began with Short explaining that she was trying an iced coffee recipe she saw in another TikTok video. She told BuzzFeed News she expected it to taste very sweet, but all she could taste was a creamy taste. “It was almost like I was drinking sweet milk. I could tell it was sweet, but there was no flavor at all,” she explained. “It was really strange. It’s hard to describe.” In the video, Short looked shocked as it felt like the drink had no flavor. “Why can’t I taste it? Do I have COVID?” she asked while looking into the camera.

Short said she has only been leaving her home to buy groceries and go to her three part-time jobs since the pandemic began. She felt no symptoms until she work up Sunday with congestion. She thought it was because of the weather, so she went to work on Monday. After work, she decided to try the Starbucks drink and ordered it on the mobile app. She hoped it would taste like a caramel macchiato. When it didn’t, she thought the barista might have put too much cream in it. Then, she realized something might be wrong.

Her mother told her she should get tested immediately and she called her employees to tell them what was going on. She made a rapid response test appointment for the following morning. In the interim, she tried several other foods and they only had a “faint” taste, she told BuzzFeed. The test came back positive. Short took a second test, which also came back positive. Although she has not shown any other serious COVID symptoms, she plans to quarantine for at least 10 days, or until the symptoms subside. She has also continued to share TikTok videos about her experience with the virus.

Short told BuzzFeed she is happy she decided to share her experience on TikTok “because a lot of people that were commenting said I made people realize they should get tested.” She went on to explain, “Whenever people think of COVID, especially kids my age, we’re told to please stay safe for our elders. I don’t think people think about people in their teens or twenties getting COVID.”

As for how she contracted the virus, Short is not sure. She said she followed public health measures and noted her case was evidence that you can still contract it even if you do everything right. “Be responsible, follow guidelines — I know guidelines are different for every state, but don’t be defiant,” she told BuzzFeed. “It really upsets me because people think they’re above whatever’s happening right now.”