FILE: COVID-19 testing being done at a facility at the University of Utah in March 2020. The American Cancer Society announced it will provide free housing to University of Utah health care workers in the Hope Lodge, a cancer treatment center located downtown. (Photo: University of Utah Health)
DAVIS COUNTY – A Farmington family wants answers after their son’s quarantine order for the coronavirus has been lifted. They say their son seems to be fine, but, they can’t get another test to verify the virus is out of his system.
The family demands answers regarding the coronavirus test their son took in Farmington.
When Jaron Erickson went on a skiing trip with four of his friends to Steamboat Springs, Colorado, he thought his group was taking every precaution to stay safe. At that time, the suggestion was to avoid groups of 50 people or more.
However, when he came back, Jaron felt weak and was having bad headaches. He kept himself away from everyone while he recovered and in a few days, Jaron was feeling much better. That’s when his friend reportedly called him with bad news.
“Thursday afternoon, he got a call from one of his buddies on the trip who said he tested positive for COVID,” according to his mother, Inger Erickson.
Turns out, everyone in the group had the virus, according to Erickson. She says getting her son tested was very tricky since he wasn’t showing any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19. She says he never had any of those symptoms even when he was ill.
“He didn’t have a fever. He didn’t have a cough. He didn’t have shortness of breath. You have to have those things in order to be tested. And, yet, he was still positive,” she says.
The entire Erickson family is isolating themselves after finding out Jaron tested positive. Jaron is also staying away from people, even though he’s feeling fine and the Utah Department of Health has lifted his quarantine. However, without another test, Erickson says it’s hard to be certain if her son is in the clear.
“He’s totally healthy, but, we don’t know if he’s still testing positive for COVID,” she says.
State health officials say there are considerable problems with testing people who aren’t showing symptoms. Epidemiologist Angela Dunn says it can lead to inaccurate results. However, she says people can be confident that if they were infected with COVID-19 and have recovered, they’re no longer a risk to the general public. National health guidelines say a person’s quarantine orders can be lifted after seven days with three of those days being symptom-free.
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