Even before a novel virus swept around the world, Anna Davis Abel wore a mask to protect herself from getting sick.
The 25-year-old writer lives with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that makes her more susceptible to catching a virus or an infection. Davis Abel’s doctor cleared her to travel to a literary conference in San Antonio in early March. Then she developed a sore throat and low-grade fever several days after arriving home in Morgantown, West Virginia.