Nurse in Quebec fakes symptoms, French accent to get tested for coronavirus

A nurse in Canada said she had to fake symptoms in order to get tested for the coronavirus — and her results came back positive.

Kristy-Lyn Kemp said she called a hotline in Quebec to request a test on Sunday, and was turned away even after explaining that she’d worked at a care home experiencing an outbreak, the CBC reported.

“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 told the outlet.

Baffled, she called back, faking a French accent so they wouldn’t suspect she was the same person.

“I made up symptoms. I said I had a fever and a cough. And that’s when they gave me an appointment,” Kemp said.

Her results came back positive about 24 hours later.

Kemp said she wanted to be tested because she feared starting an outbreak of COVID-19 at her new job, for a care home in Lachine.

“Had I brought it to the new place, I don’t know what I would have done. I would have been absolutely devastated,” Kemp said.

Kemp got the new gig after resigning from her post at a private long-term care home in Dorval — which was taken over by the government last month when its owners asked for help with the outbreak.

At least 33 residents at CHSLD Résidence Herron died of complications from the virus, and the facility is now the subject of at least three separate inquiries, including a criminal investigation by Montreal police, according to the report.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said screening priorities are for symptomatic health professionals in direct contact with patients. Staffers at CHSLD Résidence Herron are tested, with or without symptoms, he said.

Kemp said she didn’t understand how she was able to fall through the cracks.

“The consequences could have been catastrophic,” she said.

She now has to wait until she has two back-to-back negative COVID-19 tests before starting her new job.

via: https://nypost.com/2020/05/11/nurse-in-quebec-fakes-symptoms-accent-to-get-tested-for-coronavirus/

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