Gazans with COVID-19 symptoms refuse testing
Some people in the Gaza Strip are hiding their COVID-19 symptoms and avoiding testing in order to keep their jobs.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Some people with COVID-19 symptoms are avoiding testing to protect their income.
Suheir, who works in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip, started coming down with COVID-19 symptoms in early April. But her colleagues encouraged her to come to work and hide her condition from management so that the kindergarten, their only source of income, would not shut down.
Suheir, who asked that her last name be withheld, graduated from the Faculty of Commerce at the Islamic University in Gaza in 2012, but she has not been able to find a job in her field despite several attempts. She started her first and only job since graduation as an accountant at a kindergarten about a month ago. She earns $140 per month, and this is currently her only source of income.
Suheir said, “If I get tested, I will not be able to work for days or longer. If the kindergarten closes, my friends would lose their livelihood too, since I was in contact with all of them.”
