COVID Patient Has Tested Positive 78 Straight Times

Man has asked Turkish government for help after 14 months of isolation
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 12, 2022 4:00 PM CST
After 14 Months of Isolation, Patient Asks for Exemption
People walk along a street in Istanbul last week, when the number of daily COVID infections topped 100,000.   (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Since late 2020, Muzzafer Kayasan has taken 78 COVID-19 tests. Every one has come back positive. The result is that he's spent 14 months in isolation, either in a Turkish hospital or at home, Business Insider reports. The 56-year-old leukemia patient, who's home now in Istanbul, has gotten used to isolation but is tired of seeing his children and grandchildren only on FaceTime or through a window. He wants that to change, and he's asked the government for help. "I have no problem here other than being unable to touch my loved ones," Kayasan said. "It is very hard."

His wife and son have stayed with him at times, and both tested negative. Kayasan now would like to be exempted from Turkey's COVD-19 rules, which end self-isolation after a week—it was two weeks until last month—if the patient tests negative. But Kayasan never does. His doctors said he keeps testing positive because leukemia has left him with a weak immune system, per the National. "I was recovered, but I still have the remnants of COVID-19 in my body," Kayasan said. "This is the only explanation I was given for the positive tests." (More COVID-19 stories.)

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