“Given that some of the testing is done by commercial labs and the results could be delayed to (the) public health (department), some people are finding out their results and having to wait longer than normal to get contacted by public health, but that will happen,” Arballo said.Īrballo would not say how long that process typically takes. Riverside County residents who test positive are contacted by the county health department, which conducts its own investigation to determine people who may have potentially been exposed, said Jose Arballo, Riverside University Health System-Public Health spokesman. Now, she is concerned that the group of women were unknowingly exposed and then exposed others as well. “I am sure if she thought she was sick with anything more than allergies, she wouldn’t have been there with any of us.”Ĭallan said she heard about the other woman's diagnosis through a friend, but did not personally receive formal notification, which, in retrospect, she said she would have expected from county officials. “Of course, she had no way of knowing,” Callan said. And Callan sat next to this woman - who appeared to have symptoms of a severe flu or cold - for a few hours.
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19 was her point of contraction.Ĭallan has lived in the desert less than a year, so she has been on the hunt for ways to meet others in the area, she said.Ī woman at the gathering, who believed she'd just had the flu or a cold, tested positive for coronavirus about two weeks later, Callan said. Though she can't be sure, Callan believes a social gathering of about a dozen women in their 60s, 70s and 80s in Palm Desert on Feb. “Urgent care told me I was fine, and when I went to the hospital a few days later, I also told them I had been exposed, but they didn’t separate me from everyone else." 'Results could be delayed,' county says “I told everyone I had been exposed and I couldn’t get them to give me a test,” Callan said. She also questioned why Riverside County health officials were not more communicative, and whether Eisenhower Health protocols were adequate.
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While Callan says her health is much better now, she is concerned about a series of what she called "red flags" throughout her diagnosis and treatment, including slow testing procedures as well as avoidable exposure - for herself and others around her. Lee Rice, media coordinator for Eisenhower Health in Rancho Mirage, confirmed Callan was treated at Eisenhower facilities and confirmed Callan had tested positive for coronavirus. Records confirm her medical visits as well as her pneumonia - and, later, coronavirus - diagnoses. Callan waived her medical privacy rights to allow The Desert Sun to review her patient discharge papers from both Eisenhower Health emergency room and urgent care.