US woman orders flags, finds used COVID-19 nasal swab inside package

A woman from the US state of Illinois was taken aback when her order for garden flags was delivered in a biohazard bag.

Andrea Ellis ordered some flags for her grandmother’s garden from the department store chain Kohl’s. But when she opened the package, it contained a padded envelope and an extra item.

While the flags were available inside the envelope, the extra item turned out to be a biohazard bag containing someone’s COVID-19 test specimen, reported Associated Press.

“I pulled out the flags and I told my aunt, ‘Look how cute these are’. I pulled out the packing slip and then noticed something deeper inside the envelope and pulled that out. It was a biohazard bag containing someone’s COVID-19 test specimen,” Ellis said.

Following the shocking discovery, Ellis called the police, who referred the case to the county health department.

Janet Hill, the chief operating officer at the Rock Island County Health Department collected the biohazard bag. She said it contained a used nasal swab and identifying information of a person from Virginia.

I’ve never heard of anything like this. I want this person to know that the test has not been done yet,” Hill was quoted by AP.

Following the incident, Wisconsin-based Kohl’s issued a statement of apology and launched its own investigation.