Woman Who Died 6 Months Ago Receives Letter Claiming She Has COVID-19: Son

Local health agency confirms story, apologizes to family

Registered Nurse holds a COVID-19 swab test in a file photo. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

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.

“I’m just having a hard time understanding how they can say someone has COVID-19 when they are not even alive,” Troy Whittington told WKYC.

The Shelby County Health Department confirmed the mistakenly sent letter and apologized.

“Shelby County Health Department Director Dr. Alisa Haushalter personally spoke with Mr. Whittington on Thursday and a letter of apology from her was sent to the family on Friday. As an agency, we are in the process of reviewing current procedures and are implementing additional safeguards that will help to prevent situations like this from occurring in the future,” the agency said, according to Newsweek.

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.

Whittington said that he’s now questioning the overall CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus figures in the United States.

“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.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Aug. 31 that new weekly CCP virus deaths “may decrease in the coming weeks, with 3,300 to 7,500 new deaths during the week ending Sept. 26,” and its “forecasts predict 200k to 211k total COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. by Sept. 26.”