A Woman Who Hasn’t Left Her House in 3 Weeks Still Tested Positive for COVID-19

Sometimes you can do everything right and still have everything turn out wrong. 

A woman who says she hasn’t stepped out of her house in over three weeks still tested positive for COVID-19.

Rachel Brummert of Charlotte, North Carolina in the U.S. said she listened to health experts and has remained at home since a trip to the pharmacy in mid-March, according to news outlet WCNC.com. She started developing symptoms like coughs, a fever and a headache, but said it took several days before she met the criteria to be tested for the coronavirus.

The test later came back positive.

Brummert says she doesn’t know exactly how she got the virus. When she gets the mail from the mailbox, she always puts on gloves. Apart from the pharmacist and her husband, who has been sleeping in another room of the house, the only person she ever interacted with recently is a woman who volunteered to drop off her groceries at her doorstep one time. That woman later tested positive for COVID-19. She did say she didn’t think to wear gloves when picking up the package from her front porch.

“I barely had any contact,” she said. “I didn’t even touch her.”

Brummert is a high-risk patient because she already has an autoimmune disorder.

“I’m absolutely terrified,” she 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.

“I’ve never had anything like this before,” she added. “I’ve had the flu. This is not the flu. It’s a whole ‘nother monster.”

The U.S. currently has the world’s most number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with 555,371 cases as of Monday, April 13. Over 22,000 people have died.