ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — While hospitals work to get more coronavirus tests, 10Investigates has learned some labs with tests are seeing a major backlog for results.
“They had hazmat suits. We were given face masks,” Mark Bunker explained.
After suffering from a cough, shortness of breath and a fever, Bunker made the decision to get tested for COVID-19 coronavirus.
“The whole procedure was well done,” Bunker said. But that is the only thing he says has gone smoothly since being swabbed.
“Told I’d have results in 3-4 days,” Bunker said.
That was two weeks ago. 10Investigates has learned he’s not the only one who’s waiting weeks to get results.
“She got a fever,” said Dianne, a concerned mother explained of her daughter’s symptoms.
Dianne’s daughter was tested on March 17 in Polk County.
“She calls every day after she was told 24-48 hours. Now she’s being told 5-7 days, then told 7-10 days, now they are saying 10 business days which were at,” Dianne said.
And then there is this woman: “I went with two people to the drive-thru, both over 65.”
She reached out to us from Clearwater after taking her family members to get tested on March 20.
“When they go test, they were told 7 days," she said. "When I called for them to see where results were in 7 days, she said its 7-10 days because there’s only two labs in Florida for the whole state.”
We reached out to multiple hospitals in the Tampa Bay area, asking about a backlog in testing results.
One of Polk County’s main hospital groups, Lakeland Regional Medical Center, has yet to get back to us.
AdventHealth provided the following statement:
"We understand the frustration with the delay in getting test results. AdventHealth is aggressively working to help alleviate some of the burden on our public health partners including state and commercial labs that are currently inundated with tests. We recently announced an in-house testing site at AdventHealth Tampa, which serves patients who are admitted to our hospital for care, and provides turnaround times within hours for those patients, giving our team members the ability to provide immediate care.
"To date, we’ve tested more than 500 patients through AdventHealth Tampa, AdventHealth Centra Care and AdventHealth Medical Group centralized testing sites throughout the greater Tampa Bay area. Additionally, we are working to secure more testing equipment and test kits to allow other AdventHealth hospitals in the Tampa Bay area to get quicker results. By providing more of our facilities the ability to conduct in-house testing, we can further alleviate the backlog at outside laboratories, and provide our team members and our patients with a quicker diagnosis."
BayCare Health initially said drive-thru test results would be back within 2-4 days, but when we asked about a backlog, they sent us this statement:
“BayCare, like other health care providers, is aware that the demand for COVID-19 test processing has outstripped the commercial laboratories’ capacity. Like our patients, we have been disappointed to see wait times increasing daily, often to more than a week. We have been urging laboratories to increase capacity, which they are doing.”
Bunker finally received his test results—exactly 14 days after he was tested.
“Called BayCare and found out negative today,” Bunker said.
He says while the news is a relief, but he worries about others that are still waiting to find out whether they are positive or negative and for those that are still waiting to just get tested.
“The whole process has been delayed for far too long there is just a shortage of tests even being available for anyone," Bunker said. "It’s clear we need to be doing more.”
Visit this link to view testing site requirements: https://baycare.org/coronavirus/covid-19-testing-centers
- Model: Florida's coronavirus peak could come in early May, with hundreds of deaths daily
- White House projects 100K to 240K coronavirus deaths if social distancing is maintained
- 'Pandemic' scientist says his team has discovered potential cure for COVID-19
- Pastor arrested, accused of violating 'safer-at-home' order by holding Sunday services
- Schools in Florida to remain closed through May 1 because of coronavirus
- Stay-at-home vs. shelter-in-place: Here's what they mean
- Hotlines, websites offer the latest on COVID-19
FREE 10NEWS APP:
►Stay In the Know! Sign up now for the Brightside Blend Newsletter