By Johnnie Rosario
JFK High School employee Shauna Camacho wants all her co-workers and the parents of JFK students to know GovGuam knowingly lied that she is infected with the coronavirus.
The Joint Information Center Tuesday alerted the public to a new positive case at JFKHS. Department of Education officials quickly implemented protocols that both limit and stall access to education for JFK students, and caused a panic among parents. The so-called positive case was Ms. Camacho, who was contacted by Department of Public Health and Social Services workers to inform her that the test she took came back positive.
That test was conducted using the Abbott ID NOW machine, which Kandit and news wires throughout the world have previously reported on for its inaccuracy in readings if the tests is not administered and stored correctly.
"The guy who gave me the test brought the Q-tip out and nothing was covering it, he was just walking with it," Ms. Camacho said about the Abbott test. "Then after he was done swabbing, he muttered 'Oh shit,' and I asked what was wrong, and he said, 'Oh, nothing, ma'am.' But I knew something was wrong. That's why I went to SDA clinic and I got the better test done - the PCR."
As a matter of fact, Camacho was so committed to keeping her family and co-workers safe, she wasn't comfortable with just one negative test from the PCR on February 25; she got the test done again. On March 1, the second test also came back negative.
Dr. Thomas Shieh, who is Ms. Camacho's physician, confirmed the test results in a letter to DOE superintendent Jon Fernandez. He even included the relevant medical charts.
"Mrs. Camacho had indicated to me that Guam Public Health have been ignoring her confirmatory tests even when she gotten another PCR covid test on March 1via SDA, and again her result is NEGATIVE from DLS," the letter from Shieh to Fernandez reads. "She already has TWO confirmatory Covid19 PCR tests, which is the Gold Standard test; both her results were COVID NOT DETECTED. This confirms her Rapid Test from Abbott at AMC was a FALSE positive.
"Mrs. Camacho also tested her children and they’re also Covid PCR Negative," the letter from also reads. "She felt she was harassed and stigmatized by public health who has been ignoring her request for written instructions."
Ms. Camacho told Kandit News that when she received the phone call from Public Health telling her the Abbott test came back negative, she explained to the worker the situation with the test going awry and that she took the PCR test twice and both times the results came back negative.
"They knew about the PCR test because I told them and I even emailed the results to them, but the lady just said, 'I'll have to get back to you. I need to talk to my supervisor," Camacho said. "But they never got back to me. Then all of a sudden I see this in the news and it's caused such a commotion at JFK."
Ms. Camacho said the worst part of the experience was that Public Health personnel were rude and unprofessional.
"They were treating me like I was a criminal," Camacho said. "There was no courtesy. They called and just demanded my social security number and I told her, 'I'm not giving you that. How do I know you're really from Public Health?' Every time I tried to explain the situation, she would cut me off, and all I was trying to do was stop them from causing a panic! She said her name was Ginny."
Dr. Shieh is emphatic about the need for DPHSS officials to address staff professionalism, especially toward those who are sick and experiencing the stress of the situation: "She felt she was harassed and stigmatized by public health who has been ignoring her request for written instructions," Dr. Shieh concluded in his letter to Fernandez. "Thus far, public health have not been supportive and have not provided her request for written instructions, their phone call were to her demeaning and I hope that her employer will be more humanistic. Her colleagues and students at JFK deserve reassurance. She has a right to work without being stigmatized and there is no reason for her to be isolated."
