A resident of the Mishan home for the elderly in Beersheba originally tested negative for the novel coronavirus and was returned to her nursing home. Then, when she was checked again, she tested positive. Now, she is in critical condition, N12 reported on Friday. On Sunday Soroka Medical Center reported in a press release she was tested again and found negative. The report added Mishan had been informed of her health situation and that she remains in the hospital for further care.
The woman was checked for the virus twice at the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon and found negative. She returned home, felt sick again, and was taken to Soroka Medical Center where her diagnostics tests were found positive for COVID-19 on Friday. She was re-hospitalized on Thursday and is currently in critical condition. On Sunday she was found to not have coronavirus but remains under medical care.
Fourteen residents of Mishan had already died from coronavirus and related illnesses at the time of this report. Officials of the elderly people’s home called on the Health Ministry to keep those checked for the virus hospitalized and not offer them the chance to return as they risk infecting other residents.
While the ministry's current policy is to allow those who tested negative to return to their normal lives at the home, Mishan requested returning patients to stay in isolation for a week. This policy prevented her from infecting other people.
Mishan demanded the ministry change its policy, and not allow patients to return until the ministry “examines its actions to prevent such cases from happening again.” In addition, Mishan demanded that the ministry provide clear printed instructions on how to treat patients who tested negative.
Due to the novel nature of the virus and its rapid mutation process, it is not always easy to detect it. In some cases, patients had no detectable amounts of the virus day, only for the virus to return or increase in numbers at a later date.