Adele Jiang, 24-year-old, a master’s student at Wuhan University, in Hubei’s province, was admitted to hospital twice, and placed in isolation 2 times, after retesting positive for the virus within 14 days of being discharged. For her, one of the ” recovered ” Covid-19 patients, the past 2 months have been a nightmare.
She is been repeatedly testing positive for the disease caused by the Covid-19, she is currently in quarantine at a hotel in Xiaogan, a city 60km west of Wuhan, where she hopes a third test before Sunday will return a negative result so that she can go home.
“I hope I can be given a date to be released, instead of doing tests again and again which have made me depressed and upset,” Adele said.
The nightmare began five days after she returned to Wuhan on Jan 20 following the winter break, when she developed a fever. She was diagnosed with Covid-19 on Jan 27 and spent a month in hospital.
Just as she believed life was about to return to normal, she tested positive again 12 days later while still in isolation, and was sent back to hospital, where she have to stay until Mar 21.
Under China’s testing criteria, patients will remain in designated hospitals until they meet the discharge conditions. They are then observed for two weeks while they remain in isolation.
Conditions for discharge include 3 days of normal body temperature, an absence of respiratory problems, and a significant improvement in the chest lesions. Patients must also test negative in two consecutive PCR tests – the swab technique which identifies the virus that conducted at least one day apart.
Health authorities in the southern province of Guangdong said late last month that about 14% of patients who recovered from the coronavirus tested positive again after being discharged.
However, her experience appears to contradict to comments by Peng Zhiyong in mid-March, director of intensive care at Wuhan University’s Zhongnan Hospital, who said it was extremely rare for patients to retest positive after they had recovered.
Eight members of her family have been infected. She told media “My uncle and my grandpa both retested positive, and I met a lot of people I knew earlier when we were hospitalised again for treatment ”. However, from what she saw, people who retested positive did not have serious symptoms and were discharged days later.
Adele said she initially was upset about her life amid the repeated positive tests, but the discrimination from friends and society against people who had contracted the disease made her feel even worse.
She called on society to be tolerant towards those who recovered from Covid-19. “We have no chance to contact other people, as we are hospitalised again during the required 14-day quarantine at a designated place,” she said.
“If we pass the 14-day quarantine and go home, we still need to self-isolate for two weeks. And if we can finally leave home afterwards, we cannot go everywhere as we cannot get the green code.”
People, let’s give more moral support to those who are infected with the virus! To those who are infected, please do not give up ! Stay strong and keep fighting ! #BeatCovid-19
Source : SCMP