Sask. woman with COVID-19 concerned over out-of-date info

Jennifer White received the news no one wants to hear right now: She tested positive for COVID-19.

“(I’m) devastated because of what comes along with this now,” White said. “(I’m) feeling isolated because I’ve been in my master bedroom since (March) 19 by myself.”

White and her husband spent the past month in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico enjoying a vacation. But that sense of relaxation was quickly turning into one of concern as news broke daily about COVID-19.

“Back in Mexico it didn’t seem real, it was kind of surreal and everyday life was just carrying on like nothing was happening,” White said. “We were watching television and keeping updated with what was going on with the rest of the world. I don’t think it was being taken seriously while we were there.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged all Canadians to make their way home six days before the Whites’ scheduled return date.

“It was kind of slim pickings to get airlines to get us home and people were all trying to get home, so we were feeling it was best to keep what (flights) we already had booked because other people were struggling,” she said.

Now she’s concerned about how timely the information is that people are receiving from the Saskatchewan government, noting her flights weren’t on the list provided on Tuesday.

“People are having false hope saying, ‘Oh thank god I wasn’t on any of those flights.’ My flights aren’t even listed so that’s what I’m frustrated with right now,” White said. “People are not following the isolation rules and are gallivanting around town and thinking they are OK. That is how this is going to spread and that is my greatest fear right now.”

As of Wednesday evening, the list was updated to include her flight, WestJet flight 600 from Calgary to Saskatoon.

Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province’s chief medical health officer, said anyone who has information about flights or other gatherings where COVID-19 might have been present should call public health to flag it.

“We are getting that information as a matter of routine as investigations are being completed. If someone feels they were symptomatic on the flight and their flight was not on the list, they should call public health,” Shahab said.

Premier Scott Moe said they can call the public safety agency at 1-855-559-5502.

White and her husband arrived in Saskatoon on March 19 and then drove to their home near Holbein. On the very same day her flight had arrived, she began to feel the symptoms, which began with a tickle in her throat.

“I got home at 1 a.m. and went to bed. When I woke up in the morning, I just felt really exhausted but I just chalked that up to travel,” White said. “By 2:30 (p.m.) I was completely exhausted so I laid down for three hours and when I woke up, I felt really warm; my eyes were really hot and (had an) on-fire feeling. I took my temperature and I had a low-grade fever.”

While she had remained at home self-isolating, she decided to take it one step further and stay in her master bedroom by herself and away from her daughter and husband.

“For the next day and a half I battled with trying to keep my fever under control and I had a really deep, uncontrollable coughing, heaviness in my chest, really bad congestion and it was hard to breathe,” White said. “The fever’s (now) gone, the coughing is not as constant as it was, but overall complete exhaustion is what I’m feeling.”

She also mentioned she suffered from a loss of taste and smell and dealt with bouts of diarrhea.

“There’s many symptoms that I had that aren’t being talked about,” she said.

She had created a Facebook post in order to keep her family and friends up to date on her condition.

She said the process to get the test was “adequate,” saying she called 811 the day after she had arrived back from her trip. She said it took nine hours to get a call back from the line and wound up getting a referral from a family physician.

“That system is not working as well as I believe it should,” White said. “Now that I’m positive, I have people who I was in really close contact with, even on vacation, who are also in Prince Albert and are now home, waiting for days to hear back form 811. They finally got a phone call and said that they were going to hear from public health and they haven’t and had to call again.”

Since she lives about 45 minutes out of Prince Albert, she couldn’t get into the city in time before the testing clinic closed. So she got the test the next morning.

“It was just a nose swab,” she said. “They just inserted this really long nose swab thing. I tilted my head back and it felt like a quick tickle. It wasn’t very uncomfortable or anything. It was in and out and was done.”

She received the results a day and a half later.

“It was abnormally quick,” she said. “They told me to expect three to four days, possibly five. I literally got a call the next afternoon.”

Her husband is still waiting on the results of his test while they’ve been told to monitor their daughter for symptoms; she has had none so far.

White said she has been told to stay in her room for 14 days by medical professionals. She said she is still unsure when she will need to get retested following the self-isolation period.

Now she just wants to ensure everyone’s getting the proper information to keep everyone safe.

“I just am concerned how quickly the information is getting updated and being provided by the community,” she said. “I’m really concerned with my flights not being on that list. That information was given the day that they called me about my test results being positive, so it’s been a few days. It’s enough time for my information to be on that list.”

And she is asking everyone to take the restrictions and recommendations seriously.

“I’m a really concerned person right now,” she said. “I feel like it’s a collective and that we all have to be in this together in order to stop the spread and I’m just concerned that the information is not up to date and I’m just trying to do my part.”

All travellers who have returned from an international trip, including the U.S., are required to self-isolate for 14 days. Police forces in the province now have the ability to lay fines and/or criminal charges when a person doesn’t follow the public health order.