Jaye de la Cruz-Bekema recently posted on Facebook that she tested positive for COVID-19 despite faithfully observing quarantine measures and keeping herself at home for over a month.
https://www.facebook.com/jaye.bekema/posts/10158264488791668
(Lung Center Reports Zero COVID-19 Infections of Personnel After 1 Month)
She shared that she was rushed to St. Luke’s Medical Center last April 25 after an unfortunate miscarriage. As part of hospital protocol, Jaye was asked to do a swab test upon arrival. She was confident enough to tell the nurse: “I’m sure I’m negative because I never left the house since March 13 and I have had zero contact with the outside world.”
However, Jaye did test positive for the disease.
“[April] 25 was the swab test, in 3-5 days before the results are out, on Wednesday night I got a call from my OB telling [me] the results,” she told ABS-CBN News.
She explained that the last time she left the house was on March 12 for a meeting with her colleagues. Her husband had gone out for groceries 2 weeks before she was ultimately tested for COVID-19.
“‘Yung husband ko ang may quarantine pass [My husband has the quarantine pass so he is the one who does the groceries]. The last time was two weeks from the Saturday of my testing. So technically parang 14 days lang din siya nasa bahay (he has been home for 14 days),” she said.
She shares her experience to underscore the need for mass testing in the country.
“Right now, our limited testing capacity only allows us to test those with symptoms and those with exposure, or those like me with a medical emergency,” she writes. “If I didn’t have a medical emergency, I would not be qualified for testing. If I can be positive — me who never went to any grocery and who was a paranoid pregnant germophobe — can you imagine how many asymptomatic carriers are out there?”
“The virus is the enemy. And it is a stealthy, vicious enemy. We need a logical, intelligent, public health-centered, needs-sensitive response to it.”
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