CHARLOTTE, New Carolina. — A Charlotte woman hasn’t left her house in more than three weeks, yet still tested positive for COVID-19.
“I’m absolutely terrified,” Rachel Brummert, who already has an autoimmune disorder, said. “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.”
At a higher risk for complications due to her underlying condition, Brummert said she listened to the health experts. Other than a trip to the pharmacy more than three weeks ago, she hasn’t left her house once.
“I really thought I was doing everything right,” she said.
Brummert said aside from the pharmacist and her husband, who grocery shops but is temporarily living in a separate room, the only other person she’s come into contact with is a woman who volunteered to drop off groceries at her doorstep once. Brummert said the woman later tested positive for COVID-19.
“I barely had any contact,” she said. “I didn’t even touch her.”
Brummert said she gets the mail every few days, but always wears gloves. However, she didn’t think to wear gloves when bringing in packages from her front porch. In addition, she said she hasn’t eaten takeout.
Brummert has experienced many of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, including cough, fever, headache and trouble breathing, but even so, she said it took several days to meet the criteria to be tested.
Regardless of the source of the infection in her case, Brummert knows her diagnosis is just another reminder that COVID-19 is easy to get and often hard to trace.
“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.”
Source: WBNS
