'I don't understand': Young London hockey player with COVID-19 wonders why follow-up tests aren't being done

A young London, Ont. hockey player in his 20s, who tested positive for COVID-19, wants to know why health officials are no longer doing follow-up tests to make sure patients aren't carrying the virus. 

"I don't understand how you can just assume that I'm fully cured if I'm not tested," Zac Tierney said. "If I never get a test that tells me that I'm not carrying this virus anymore, I'm not going to feel comfortable going around my grandparents or going around people in public."

Tierney received his diagnosis on March 29, 13 days after he was tested at the Oakridge Arena assessment centre.

Tests are not usually done at the assessment centres, but Tierney said the nurses gave him one after finding out he had been in France playing hockey for the Yétis du Mont-Blanc team.

During the phone call, he was told by a nurse that he needed two follow-up tests showing negative results to be in the clear. 

But the next day, he received another call from the same nurse who told him he wouldn't need any follow-up tests because the policy for testing COVID-19 patients had changed.

"It's kinda strange ... not even a day ago, I was told that I'm going to have to be tested twice and I thought that was a really good idea," he said, adding the nurse advised him patients without any symptoms for 48 hours were considered cleared of the virus.

The reason why testing protocols changed is because health officials now have a better understanding of the virus.

"We only require someone to be in isolation for 14 days after they develop symptoms if they test positive," said Dr. Alex Summers, the region's associate medical health officer. "At that point in time, we can be confident that they're no longer infectious."

There are exceptions to the rule, however, as health officials are still conducting follow-up tests on health care workers and people who have been hospitalized.

Dr. Summers added the changes to follow-up testing were implemented by the province.

"The 14-day period is based off of all the studies that are currently evolving that really show that even eight to 10 days after somebody has developed symptoms, they're likely no longer infectious," he said.

'Something's really not right'

Tierney said he first started feeling off during his flight to Toronto from Switzerland in mid-March.

He made the decision to return home after French officials suspended the rest of the hockey season and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a warning telling Canadians abroad to return home. However, Tierney wasn't able to book a flight out of France so his next best option was to catch a bus to Geneva and board a flight from there.

"On the travel day home was when it really hit me," Tierney said, not knowing whether he was simply feeling the effects of travel fatigue and jet lag or something else.

When he returned home to London, his parents placed him in self-isolation by providing a separate room and bathroom.

The next day, Tierney started to feel body cramps and began to cough. While he didn't have a fever yet, he did end up losing his senses of smell and taste, a possible sign of COVID-19 infection in some patients.

"I'm like, something's really not right and I told my parents, 'you know what, I might as well just go get tested,'" he said.

After he was tested at the Oakridge Arena assessment centre, he was told by nurses that he would hear back within 72 hours about a diagnosis, and to continue physical distancing from others in the meantime.

But the 72 hours came and went, and Tierney still hadn't heard from anyone about his test results.

"I was looking online pretty much every day," he said, referring to the MLHU's website where the number of new cases of COVID-19 are posted every day at noon.

"[The website] said a test for March 18, there was a 20s male and [the transmission status] just said pending, and I would refresh it all the time because I just thought, I'm never going to hear the results."

When Tierney finally received the call on March 29, it confirmed what he already suspected.

"It wasn't that big of a surprise because I was acting like I had it anyway, just because of the symptoms and where I had been in Europe," he said.

On the mend

Since his diagnosis, Tierney said he's feeling better as his body aches are no longer as bad as they once were and his senses of smell and taste are slowly coming back.

"The mornings are always tough ... but nothing compared to how it was at the peak," he said.

He also has a message for other young people like him who may be brushing off concerns about getting COVID-19.

"Don't think you're invincible," he said. "I'm proof of that. I am a healthy person that's very active ... I never thought I would end up with this virus."