Fatal respiratory diphtheria in a visitor to Canada

The January 4th 2021 CMAJ report of a fatal respiratory diphtheria case in a 69 year-old visitor to Canada, is a sobering reminder of unusual diseases that one needs to consider in primary care medicine. The Key Points included with this article are important, but is there one missing?
A "telemedicine clinic" review advised the patient to present to the Emergency Department immediately; was this the Covid-19 hot-line? If so, the assessing nurse is to be congratulated in recognizing the urgent nature of the patient's symptoms.
A relative presenting to the 811 phone line with a cough, was told to phone her GP, who in turn recommended that she make an appointment with the local hospital Covid clinic for appraisal and get a naso-pharyngeal swab taken; there, the physician's recommendation was to presume a diagnosis of corona virus and to isolate oneself for 14 days.
Over the next few months of persistent cough, this sequence was repeated 3 times (in addition to chest imaging and bloodwork). Eventually, resolution of the coughing bouts occurred within a few hours of prescription of a broncho-dilator.
Like the old adage "all that glitters is not gold", during the pandemic all coughs are not caused by Covid-19, a key point.