Coronavirus:- Gemma’s Story

Today the Welsh Government start rolling out their Contact tracing system, and Gemma Taylor from Abercynon has been talking to us at GTFM about her experience.

Gemma Taylor, who is currently on maternity leave after recently giving birth to a baby girl, began to experience symptoms early May.

In the early hours of the morning, Gemma woke up with symptoms. As her partner is a key worker, she was naturally concerned.

Gemma said: “Early hours of Thursday morning I had a sudden fever for about an hour, and I woke up shaking. It calmed down a bit and I just had a headache, but Garreg’s boss said for us to get tested for peace of mind.”

Gemma booked the test via the NHS key worker hotline and was tested the next day at the Abercynon test centre. As she arrived at the centre, she was shown where to go and was tested in her car immediately.

She said: “We drove in and were directed to drive to a portacabin. They checked our details, then someone came out to swab me, and that was it. We left the house at 9:01 and were home at 9:07. It took more time to get our baby in the car that it did to get tested.”

Gemma received her results via text the next day and informed she’d tested positive for COVID-19 and must self-isolate.

Although the news was a shock, both Gemma and her partner Garreg are relieved having had a clear answer about her symptoms.

She continues: “As my partners a key worker, his employers now have peace of mind knowing he can safely return to work after the isolation period, and I can now safely isolate at home.”

Listen to her interview with Gareth Williams from Monday’s Community Link show.