Glen Ellyn Kids Create Coronavirus Status Wristbands

GLEN ELLYN, IL — When the coronavirus shutdown hit, Kenna Rasmussen Royce, a junior at Glenbard West High School, learned she'd be missing out on taking the ACT, but she put her mind to work on a project to benefit others. Royce, 17, along with her siblings Hayden, 14, and Colby, 13, invented coronavirus status wristbands as a way to help with social distancing.

At press time, they have sold more than 2,500 wristbands.

The wristbands come in four colors: green, yellow, red and purple. Green is to indicate someone who has had coronavirus and recovered. Kenna said, "the greens can make contributions to our communities such as volunteer work because they are not carrying the virus. They can also start living in their communities knowing that they are not contagious. "

The yellow wristbands indicate someone who is practicing social distancing and staying cautious. Kenna said, "The yellows are for those people to be cautious and practice safe social distancing as established by local, state and federal guidelines. This is most of us right now."

This helps when people are out and about and want to make it clear that they are practicing social distancing.

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The red wristband indicates that you are in a high-risk group. These include people 60 and older and those with underlying medical conditions. Royce said, "Until there is a vaccine, the high-risk people are just as vulnerable today as they will be 6 months from now (or until there is a vaccine)."

After rolling out the green, yellow and red wristbands, the Royce family was contacted by a group of health care workers in Iowa who requested a wristband to designate essential workers. Thus, the purple wristband was invented.

Royce said the purple wristbands have been the most in-demand to date. She told Patch, "We have many emails from healthcare workers thanking us for thinking of them while they are working on the front lines."

Royce told Patch her family has received notes of thanks for creating the wristbands, especially from those who are high-risk or who have high risk family members.

She said, " I am so grateful for the responses my family and I have received, and the support from our Glen Ellyn community has been amazing. It is so important that we come together as a community and support each other in this rough time."

Click the link to order your own COVID-19 wristband.

Illinois Coronavirus Update April 16: 24,593 Cases; 948 Deaths