Woman whose 'coronavirus prank partially closed company' says they 'overreacted'

A woman has been furiously slammed and labelled an 'stupid’ after her flatmate shared the story of her 'prank' online.

The anonymous flatmate says they currently work on an IT helpdesk at a health care center which looks after elderly people who are unable to care for themselves.

The person claimed it is located in a building which is shared by one of the care homes.

One of the women the IT worker lives with has recently returned from traveling in Europe and visited a city where there have been confirmed cases of coronavirus.

And when she got back, the woman posted a picture in the group chat captioned 'oops, maybe I've brought it back home guys' and also sent a voicenote saying she had been sick all night, had a spiked fever and felt generally unwell. 

The health care worker contacted her to find out what was going on, knowing the elderly people they come into contact with were among the highest risk group.

The woman replied to say she was on the way to the doctors and would be in contact as soon as she could.

Not wanting to take the risk, the worker says they told their manager of the situation, resulting in them being sent home, the department being 'partially shut down' and the whole affair costing the company a fair bit of money.

Writing on Reddit , they said: "When I returned home I found my roommate laughing in bed, stating that she only has a cold and it was just a prank.

"I was furious for the following reasons: I was working overtime on Tuesday but since it was outside of my contract, I most likely won't be compensated for the hours I couldn't spend working in the afternoon (which accumulates to £173 in total).

"Said roommate in question also works in a health care center which further confuses me. Honestly, you should know better.

"When I confronted my roommate about this she said it's not her fault nor her responsibility that I got sent home and that everyone is overreacting, since it was only a joke. I've been mad at her since and I am considering breaking all contact."

The story shocked others, with one replying: "Your roommate is a complete fool.

"People are dying from the coronavirus, and the fact she believes making a prank from it shows she’s a insensitive and irresponsible, especially since she also works with vulnerable people!

"I would explain to your boss what happened and I would tell your roommate that she needs to grow up."

Another commented: "Thank you for taking into account other people's safety.

"Your roommate was way out of bounds and should know better considering she does the same work. Shame on her."