Age ain't nothing but a number! #iStayWoke #EyeSEEclearly #LOVEmyNewOrleans #RespectTheVoodoo This 39-year-old New Orleans woman tested for coronavirus. She died before getting her results. She tested for coronavirus, and her results were delayed. Five days later, she was dead in her kitchen. BY JESSICA WILLIAMS | STAFF WRITER PUBLISHED MAR 21, 2020 AT 11:26 AM | UPDATED MAR 21, 2020 AT 1:12 PM 1 min to read On March 10, Natasha Ott, 39, felt the beginnings of a cold coming on. She had a slight fever. Crescent Care, her employer, had only a handful of tests for the new strain of coronavirus on hand; she initially passed on the chance to take one, after being told she was low-risk for the serious disease. When her symptoms didn't shake, she did take the test on Monday. By Thursday, she felt "something in her lungs," she told longtime partner Josh Anderson. But she still felt well enough by then to join Anderson as the pair walked her dog. On Friday, Anderson found Ott dead in her kitchen. Her test results have still not come back. Anderson, 40, said what happened to his former girlfriend should be a wake-up call for anyone who still believes COVID-19 isn't as deadly as experts have claimed. Speaking in an interview Saturday, after his social media post recounting Ott's experience was shared hundreds of times, he said the dearth of tests shows how ill-equipped New Orleans is to handle a pandemic that has already claimed 16 lives and infected nearly 600 people across the state. "She could have gotten a test last Friday, but they only had five tests, and she didn’t want to use one of them," Anderson said. Not less than a week ago, he was one of those who believed younger, relatively healthy people like Ott and himself would be fine amid the outbreak. "I believed that people should stay home, but I don’t think I fully understood what the consequences could be if they didn’t," he said. Noel Twilbeck, the CEO of Crescent Care, confirmed on Saturday that Ott was a former employee and that she had died, but declined to say anything more, citing respect for her family. (at New Orleans, Louisiana) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-AY_CHD7zP/?igshid=getgy5hdi4kc
