A Canadian woman has raised brows and concerns after testing positive for COVID-19 eight times in 7 weeks.
Tracy Schofield, who is a nurse, told Canada’s CTV News she started having coronavirus symptoms on March 30. The next day she got her first COVID-19 test, which came back positive. It would be Schofield’s first test of many — she’s had eight more since.
She experienced chills, a headache, difficulty breathing and a fever, she told CTV. After 50 days, she still has some lingering symptoms and is now worried COVID-19 could cause long-term problems. “I still to this day have shortness of breath,” Schofield told CTV. “COVID-19 has taken a lot out of me, and it continues every day.”
Schofield was hoping she’d be fully recovered by now, nearly two months after her first symptoms, but she has taken a total of nine coronavirus tests and only one came back negative, according to CTV.
Some health care facilities require patients to get two consecutive negative test results at least 24 hours apart to confirm they have cleared the virus.
Schofield says Region of Waterloo Public Health officials released her from self-isolation after 14 days, and she’s been cleared to go back to work, too. However, she is still worried she might be contagious.
For those who have had the coronavirus and are waiting to be in the clear, like Schofield, there are still many unknowns about the recovery process.
The CDC says it is possible the virus could be detectable in the upper or lower respiratory tract for weeks after illness onset. However, it says, the “duration of viral shedding and the period of infectiousness for COVID-19 are not yet known.”
Schofield says she works in a long-term care setting and doesn’t want to put anyone else at risk. The hardest part, she said, is that nobody has answers for her questions.
