The son of a Tennessee woman said that although his mother died six months ago, the Shelby County Health Department sent her a letter notifying her that she tested positive for COVID-19 and needed to self-quarantine.
The Shelby County Health Department confirmed the mistakenly sent letter and apologized.
Whittington told the news station that his mother died while in hospice care.
“It’s been six months, almost seven, since she passed away,” he added. “There was no testing that was done at that time. On her death certificate it was stated she died, what the cause of death was, and it was not COVID-19. It was COPD.” COPD refers to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Whittington said he called the local health department, which said she tested positive for the virus on June 20. By that time, he said she was already deceased and cremated.
“It’s impossible for someone to be tested on June 20, who passed away on February 16th. I tried to call the health department this morning, ask them why this was going on. She said she would have to get a supervisor. She was sorry for the mistake or she couldn’t tell me any information till she got a supervisor, and I haven’t heard back from them,” he said.
“I would just like for the health department to be more accurate,” he said. “They have a record of her death there. That is where I got the death certificate from, and it’s in the same building they’re sending out saying she is positive, which is not possible.”
So far, more than 6 million cases of the CCP virus, otherwise known as the novel coronavirus, have been reported in the United States, along with nearly 190,000 deaths.