Sachem alum Maria Michta-Coffey should just be worrying about qualifying for the Olympics, but thanks to a global scare of the Zika Virus, especially in Brazil where the 2016 Olympics will take place, she’s had to think about a lot lately.
While her desire to compete and attend the games hasn’t wavered, she and her husband Joe Coffey, a science teacher and coach at Sachem East, do intend to start a family after the games, which is a complicated situation at best right now.
There have been many reports stating that the Zika Virus can affect pregnant women.
“We don’t know how long we have to wait [after the Games],” Michta-Coffey said in an interview with Vocativ.com. “That’s kind of a big concern. This hits really close to home.”
Michta-Coffey has a biomedical Ph.D. and is well versed in all angles of this dilemma from the racewalking to the mosquito virus.