Showing the virus' nearness

CHENEY – The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are hitting closer to home on the West Plains, and with more seriousness.

According to the Spokane Regional Health Center and other media sources, the county’s first person under age 20 to die from complications stemming from the virus was a 15-year-old Cheney High School student. Abbi Watson-Freestad had dealt with asthma and allergies her entire life, her mother Stacy Watson-O’Leary told KHQ Tuesday night, Nov. 24, carrying breathing treatments and EpiPens with her at all times.

Over the past five weeks, her condition worsened, and on Nov. 18 she...