Heeding advise from medical experts to stay at home amidst the global pandemic, and for knowing that she is at even more risk of COVID-19 complications for having an underlying medical condition, a woman in North Carolina has been in self-isolation for more than three weeks. To her surprise, she still tested positive for the deadly virus infection on Thursday (9 April).
Rachel Brummert, who has auto-immune disease, said she has not left her house since mid-March. Ever since then, she had only been in contact with 3 people.
In an interview with WCNC, Brummert the symptoms first appeared around 22 March, and it took a couple of days for her to meet the criteria to be tested. She, later on, experienced other coronavirus-related symptoms such as headaches, cough, fever, loss of smell and taste and shortness of breath.
“I’ve never had anything like this before,” she said. “I’ve had the flu. This is not the flu. It’s a whole other monster.”
Woman Tested COVID-19 Positive
Other than a trip to the pharmacy three weeks ago, Brummert said that she has not stepped out of her house once since March 18. She said that she also practised social distancing and frequent hand washing, basically adhered to what health experts have advised.
“I really thought I was doing everything right,” she said.
Brummert during an interview with WCNC. | Photo: screengrab from Youtube
Brummert said she had come into contact with only two other people since the beginning of her self-isolation, including a woman who volunteered to drop off groceries at her doorstep once.
According to Brummert, she barely had any contact with the volunteer who “was on the bottom step”. Brummert only said “thank you” from the door and “didn’t even touch her”.
The volunteer told Brummert that she later tested positive with COVID-19.
But Brummert said there could be other possible sources: her husband does the groceries for her, she gets the mail herself but while wearing gloves, and she also said she received a couple of packages herself.
Husband Lives in Separate Room
The only common area Brummert and her husband are in contact with is the kitchen, “which remains clean” according to her. She also said that she has not eaten takeout during this period.
Apart from that, the couple has been temporarily living in separate rooms for a while now, with Brummert’s husband working from home since early March.
She said that he also wears a mask when checking in on her.
But when it came to bringing in packages, Brummert says that she “didn’t think to wear gloves.” She would only wear gloves when she collects the mail every few days.
She got tested for the virus on 5 April and was confirmed to have COVID-19 4 days later.
“This is the sickest I’ve ever been and it’s the most scared I’ve ever been. From what I’m hearing about ventilators, it’s scary stuff. I’m really hoping I can wait this out at home,” said Brummert.
Photo: screengrab of interview with WCNC
You can view the full video here: