Brooke and her family started feeling sick due to carbon monoxide poisoning from a leak in their home's basement furnace.
Brooke initially suspected she had COVID-19 because she was experiencing symptoms like exhaustion, aches, and a fever, and the pandemic was widespread at the time.
Brooke and Stefan got tested for COVID-19 to rule out the virus as the cause of their symptoms, and both tested negative.
John Shiflian, an infectious disease specialist, agreed to let Caroline visit because he believed the longer the family was sick, the less infectious they would be, and he trusted that it was safe.
John Shiflian suspected an environmental illness because Caroline's symptoms lessened when she went outside, and people got very sick quickly when they entered the main house.
The carbon monoxide leak went undetected because the smoke alarm installed in the home did not have a carbon monoxide detector, as it was installed before such detectors were required.
When a woman gets sick with a mystery illness during the height of the COVID pandemic, she fears her holiday season will be ruined. But as her entire family starts getting sick one by one, a lousy Christmas is the least of her worries.
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