‘Super Healthy’ College Student Dies of Rare Covid-19 Complications

Mr. Dorrill said of his nephew. “He was in tremendous shape. Skinny. Could run six miles without any issue. He ran with us less than three weeks ago, in fact. He was healthy — until this hit.”

Mr. Dorrill said it was not clear how his nephew had contracted the virus. “He told us he was always careful to wear a mask.”

Dr. Colin McDonald, chair of neurology at Forsyth Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., where Chad Dorrill’s parents removed him from life support at 8 p.m. on Monday, said that the hospital and the staff members who cared for him were “devastated” by his death.

“We are doing everything we can to figure out why this happened,” Dr. McDonald said.

An Appalachian State spokeswoman said the Dorrill family had informed the university of his condition last week. She would not say what, if any, steps the school had taken as a result, but she said the university had tested 7,569 students on campus this semester as of Sunday, and 334 were positive, for a test positivity rate of 4.4 percent.

In a now private Facebook post on the page of the Piedmont Pacers, a travel basketball team that Chad Dorrill had played with, a friend of his mother, Susan Dorrill, quoted her saying that “if it can happen to a super healthy 19-year-old boy who doesn’t smoke, vape or do drugs, it can happen to anyone.” The family confirmed that his mother had made the statement.

“As our family suffers this incredible loss,” his mother wrote, “we want to remind people to wear a mask and quarantine if you test positive, even without symptoms. You have no idea who you can come into contact with that the virus affects differently.”

Pam Belluck and Kristine White contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett contributed research.