Paolina van Kleef is casted as "staring girl" in episode 7 of season 1 in HBO's The Last of Us. Knowing that Dina arrived in Jackson before Ellie did, what if...
In The Last of Us Part II, the player can find 2 artifacts that seem to be notes written by people while turning into infected. This can lead us to believe that, yes; at least during the first hours of infection, the person is still there.
"Somebody is staring Ellie. Wondering who that could be, theoretically or not, we'll find out maybe one day. (...) That doesn't mean that that's Dina, that doesn't mean it's not"
— Craig Mazing, HBO's The Last of Us Podcast