The mother of an 11-year-old, who has been in quarantine at one of the Ministry of Public Health’s facilities for approximately 40 days, is seeking answers from health authorities over an alleged mix up of the girl’s novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test results.
In a Facebook live video, Roshini Singh Baboolall, the daughter-in-law of Guyana’s first COVID-19 victim Ratna Baboolall, expressed frustration over the situation.
The woman said her daughter was tested on four different occasions; twice her results were positive, while on the third occasion it was negative. However, the woman said the health workers returned and told her they did not collect enough of a sample during the last test and the girl was required to do a fourth test. The test was done last Tuesday and they returned with the results last night. That result was positive.
“…Tonight they are coming to tell me they made a mistake, that my daughter is positive… Isn’t this madness? She was inside the room with us and they come and tell us she is negative…,” the frustrated woman said.
In the video, she detailed the testing process.
The woman along with her husband and other family members were the first group to be quarantined by health officials after her mother-in-law tested positive. Ratna Baboolall died.
“The brought us here on March 16 and test us all. My daughter, her father, uncle and grandfather were tested positive and were placed in a room. Myself, my mother-in-law sister and my sister-in-law husband test results were negative… We did a second test 14 days after, her father uncle and grandfather their results came back negative. All four of them were in the same room, used the same bathroom but only she was positive. My test results came back positive with my sister-in-law husband and my mother-in-law sister and we were placed in the room with her,” she related before breaking down into tears.
Roshini explained that after she and others were positive, they joined her daughter in the quarantine room and after 14 days, did another test. She said that results were negative for them. However, a few days later health officials asked her daughter to do another test since the health workers did not collect enough samples to test.
“They come and told us that Monday and Tuesday they did another test… tonight they are coming to tell me they made a mistake, that my daughter is positive…,” the frustrated mother reiterated.
“Don’t we have a life? This is madness. We need help. My daughter is 11-years-old and has been in quarantine for 40 days and over… it is not easy at all. I don’t care if I am discriminated, I know I don’t have the virus and she doesn’t have the virus but they are saying she has it… we need proper answers. We haven’t seen no test results! Nothing! We are not sick and we don’t have any symptoms,” the upset mother lamented as she called for answers.
Some persons with the disease are asymptomatic.
The family had been isolated since the death of Ratna, who had travelled from the United States days before being hospitalised and succumbed. To date, seventeen persons are in institutional quarantine while 57 persons are in institutional isolation. Guyana has officially recorded eight deaths since the pandemic touched its shores.