After being told that they had tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), a family in Wowetta, North Rupununi, was left to fend for themselves even though two members of the family who tested positive were elders who would be more susceptible to the disease.
“I must say, we were actually left on our own to survive,” Cheryl Torres, a resident of the indigenous community of Wowetta which is located in Region Nine told Stabroek News during an interview yesterday.
Torres disclosed that six members of her family tested positive for COVID-19. They were placed on home isolation and spent several days without leaving their home before they were discharged on August 15.
While they are not sure where they contracted the disease, Torres noted that they all displayed mild symptoms with the exception of her mother and father. She recalled that she had a very high fever, an occasional cough, and lost her sense of taste and smell.
However, her parents experienced severe symptoms of the disease including shortness of breath. This, she says, was quite worrying because there was no one monitoring them and they had to handle the situation on their own.
“No one monitored us, we could have been walking all over the place but we chose not to because we care about others and didn’t want to keep spreading the virus,” she said.
During their time in isolation, they were contacted by a doctor twice and the rest of the time was spent in isolation which meant they had to do whatever they could to survive on their own. Even though her parents are elderly and considered part of the high risk group who are vulnerable to COVID-19, they were not given any specific advice about how they should handle the disease.
Further, she said, they had to transport drugs to treat the flu-like symptoms and boost their immune system all the way from Georgetown. Even after they received their results they were left to their own devices and were very lucky that they had enough food supplies to last them for the duration of their isolation period.
Torres’ mother, Judith Moses, 50, stated that the source of their infection was difficult to trace because many persons were displaying symptoms of the disease at that time. She noted that she had similar symptoms to that of her daughter along with the shortness of breath but in her case, those symptoms were severe.
She said that after being told that she was infected with COVID-19, she was psychologically affected and was scared of what could’ve happened to her. As a result of this and what she went through when her symptoms were severe, she became very emotional and this took a toll on her even after she had recovered. After the severe symptoms had subsided, Moses related that it was very difficult to continue with her normal life especially since they were left to their own devices and no health personnel to assist them during the times they needed it the most.
“I am feeling okay now, back to normal but still traumatized with the experiences. I had sleepless nights, nightmares and hallucinations and I’m still scared to go back out there to get re-infected. During the time I was in isolation I felt strange and everything was so stressful,” Moses said.
Now, she added, she is trying to be positive about everything and is very grateful that she is home with her family.
She said that the family’s experience with the disease was very difficult and this was worsened by the discrimination they felt from other members of the community.
Moses said that she would like to advise persons to follow all the guidelines that were instituted to protect persons from COVID-19 and to not be afraid to report their symptoms. She is also appealing to persons to stop discriminating against those who test positive for the disease.
