CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte woman hasn’t left her house in more than three weeks, yet still tested positive for COVID-19.
“I’m absolutely terrified,” Rachel Brummert, who already has an autoimmune disorder, told WCNC Charlotte on April 10. “This is the sickest I’ve ever been and it’s the most scared I’ve ever been. From what I’m hearing about ventilators, it’s scary stuff. I’m really hoping I can wait this out at home.”
Now less than two weeks since Brummert first appeared on WCNC Charlotte and became a national mystery, an epidemiologist has solved the mystery. (That update is below.)
At a higher risk for complications due to her underlying condition, Brummert said she listened to the health experts. Other than a trip to the pharmacy more than three weeks ago, she hasn’t left her house once.
“I really thought I was doing everything right,” she said.
Brummert said aside from the pharmacist and her husband, who grocery shops but is temporarily living in a separate room, the only other person she’s come into contact with is a woman who volunteered to drop off groceries at her doorstep once. Brummert said the woman later tested positive for COVID-19.
“I barely had any contact,” she said. “I didn’t even touch her.”
UPDATE: MYSTERY SOLVED
Remember that trip to the pharmacy three weeks before testing positive? That March 18 errand was her last into the outside world.
An epidemiologist called Brummert Thursday, April 21 with the news: They had traced her exposure back to the keypad at the pharmacy.
"I felt a little relieved it wasn't the groceries," Brummert told WCNC Charlotte's Nate Morabito in a follow-up interview. "When you pick up a prescription, you have to sign for it."