On Saturday, we met paramedics outside the hospital who had brought in a person suspected of being infected with coronavirus. The medics took the opportunity to ask us to pass on their request that people tell them about a suspected coronavirus infection at the beginning of contact.
– It happens that people are afraid that if they say something worrying, they will be treated badly. For example, they conceal that they have been abroad or had contact with someone at risk of coronavirus infection. We ask them to say even the worst things, because the truth will always come out eventually, rather than hide them – the paramedics say.
The truth will come out sooner or later, and lying or failing to disclose everything can disrupt the work of paramedics or the hospital. This is demonstrated by a case in Legnica, where a patient reported to the Hospital Emergency Department. The woman had previously been abroad but informed staff about it only later. As a result, she would have gone straight to the infectious diseases ward rather than the Emergency Department. The Legnica Emergency Department was temporarily closed and then had to be disinfected, while the staff were sent into quarantine.