Newark officials find woman who tested positive for coronavirus but gave fake name

Anthony Zurita
NorthJersey.com

A woman who tested positive for coronavirus at an Essex County hospital under a fake name and address and was discharged has been located, announced Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.

Baraka made the announcement on his twitter feed just before 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, adding a note of gratitude to the public for their vigilance and urged residents to watch a virtual town hall tonight at 7 p.m. if they had questions. 

The woman was tested for coronavirus at East Orange General Hospital on Saturday and the test came back positive, but after Newark health officials responded to the address she listed, they found she did not live there, Baraka said in a Facebook video on Tuesday. 

In the video, Baraka pleaded with the woman to return to the hospital and identify herself as the person tested and said the city is drafting court documents to get surveillance video from the hospital. The hospital has not released the footage as of Tuesday.   

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"You put yourself and many, many people at risk, not just in the city of Newark but all of the surrounding cities," Baraka said. 

East Orange General Hospital stated that it worked in concert with Newark's and East Orange's departments of health and police.

"Patient privacy laws constrain us from providing further comment to the public about a specific patient or case," the hospital added.

Newark had two presumed positive cases of coronavirus as of Monday. Essex County had 20 and New Jersey 178.

Nicholas Katzban contributed to this report.

Anthony Zurita is a breaking news reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all the major news happening in North Jersey, subscribe here. To get breaking news directly to your inbox, sign up for our newsletter.

Email: zuritaa@northjersey.com Twitter: @AnthonyRZurita