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A nurse who worked with COVID-19 patients in Quebec, Canada had to fake having symptoms so she could get tested — the results came back positive.
Kristy-Lyn Kemp had been wanting to get tested before transferring to another nursing home as she had been exposed to the novel coronavirus, as per Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on May 8.
Despite being told that she did not need to get tested early in May, the auxiliary nurse insisted that she gets one as she does not want to bring the virus to her new job at another nursing home.
“I told them I was coming from a COVID-positive environment, but I was completely asymptomatic. They told me I didn’t need a test,” Kemp was quoted as saying.
Kemp detailed that she called her province’s hotline again, although this time speaking in French so as to not get recognized, and lied about having symptoms to get tested.
“I made up symptoms. I said I had a fever and a cough. And that’s when they gave me an appointment,” she explained.
She finally got tested the same week and it proved to be the right move as results came back positive.
“Had I brought it to the new place, I don’t know what I would have done. I would have been absolutely devastated,” Kemp was quoted as saying.
She previously worked at the Centre d’hébergement et de soins de longue durée (CHSLD) Résidence Herron in the city of Dorval until April.
Canadian Ministry of Health spokesperson Robert Maranda said screening priorities are for symptomatic health workers in direct contact with COVID-19 patients, while CHSLD staff are supposed to be tested with or without symptoms, according to the report.
If she had not been tested, Kemp stressed that the “consequences could have been catastrophic.” Ian Biong/JB
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