Linden family stigmatised, shunned after suspected mix-up leads to COVID quarantine

“They treating us like total garbage.”

These are the words of a 39-year-old Block 22, Wismar Linden resident, who says she and other members of her family are being discriminated against by the Region Ten community after what she believes was a case of mistaken identity led to a relative being quarantined for two weeks on suspicion that she had the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

The woman, a hair dresser, asked not to be named as she doubted that the treatment she and her family is receiving from people she once thought were friends will change after she has spoken out about it.

She told Sunday Stabroek that while she cannot recall the exact date when their troubles started, she could detail what she and her family have experienced at the hands of many neighbours and other members of the community after an ambulance showed up to take her niece to a COVID-19 quarantine facility.