Ports reveal unprecedented surge in harmful emissions; officials blame COVID-19 logjam for lack of testing
Sally Edwards was one of the organizers of the protests in September. Her daughter was diagnosed with COVID-19 and had, at the time, been hospitalized. “She is now at home and is back to her normal routine,” Edwards told us. “On March 15, the day of the protests, we received a phone call from our daughter. I called the local hospital and learned she was in respiratory distress, and they had sent a code blue alert. They were testing her as a precaution for respiratory distress, and the test came back positive for COVID-19.”
Her daughter had just spent the first week of the outbreak in isolation and hadn’t been tested yet—and she tested positive for COVID-19.
“I had already been on Facebook and Twitter for a couple days,” Edwards said. “I called my city councilman and told him that I was very concerned about the lack of testing available for everyone.” He asked his office to let him know if it could help expedite the testing. Edwards said she was told they would do everything they could to expedite testing.
“The response from the city is a joke,” she said.
Edwards had been in contact with the city’s chief medical officer, who was also calling for testing. She said she also spoke to the city’s public health director, who told her that they would do everything they could to try to expedite testing for her daughter. But, Edwards said, “They have had no response to date.”
On March 12, the city sent a letter with a list of symptoms to all doctors, asking them to report a person with potential COVID-19 symptoms when they see one. (According to Edwards, they asked the doctor to call after the letter was sent.) Dr. James Gillis is the city’s chief medical officer. He told us he wrote the letter to try to “help us