Our agonizing wait for a coronavirus test: What my husband had to do to get results
The symptoms sounded worryingly familiar. Raspy chest. Lethargy. Diarrhea. Fever. Lack of appetite.
My husband, Stetson, and I had returned from Portugal a few days earlier. My 72-year-old husband had been following news reports and felt he should be tested. We both had our regular flu shots early in the fall.
On March 5, he called his doctor’s office. It referred him to the Miami-Dade County Health Department. It sent him back to his doctor’s office.
That March 5 call was the beginning of a maddening and frighteningly difficult quest, first to get a coronavirus test, and then to get the results.
Despite nearly hourly assurances by government at all levels that testing was available in every part of the nation, we knew first-hand that it was not.
What government spokesmen also weren’t saying: How long it would take to learn the results. While mayors, government staff and basketball players were reporting results overnight, it would take a week after my husband finally took the test before we knew the results.
While the first drive-through testing center in Miami-Dade finally opened today, our saga underscores confusion at the local and state levels that left far more than one official, doctor and patient without recourse — the community without a clear picture of just how far the disease may have spread.
It also highlights the fact that tests were largely unavailable in Miami-Dade, Florida’s most populous county, until well after emergency conditions were declared.
Twelve days after he first requested testing, my husband finally learned that the test came back negative for COVID-19. He still feels weak and has a cough, and naps frequently throughout the day, making us wonder if results are reliable. For now, we’re staying home.
A DAILY SAGA
Sick and frustrated, my husband documented every twist with texts to me, his working wife. Names have been omitted.
March 5: I had a confusing experience with the Health Department 305-470-5660, Coronavirus info rep [and] supervisor. They told me that the primary doctors, urgent care & hospitals take samples and send them to the health department for testing in their labs...I called back my primary Dr and he’s going to dig deeper...but says they were previously told to refer any potential coronavirus patients to Health Dept. ...I can’t imagine a sick, poor or uneducated person without a regular doctor navigating this bureaucracy.
No. 2: [Doctor] will take blood and swamps of my mouth Monday at 10:30. He says Health Dept. does not have Lab set to process samples until next week.
March 9: Still no testing or sample collection protocol available, which was promised earlier today but has not been delivered.
No. 2: Still no word through lab and Dade Health Dept on when test kits will be available.
March 10: Just called Co Health Dept and they have no idea when tests will be available here - some limited testing in Tampa area & Tallahassee directed by State Health Officials with very limited test kits available but none here and no info on when they will become available here.
No 2: State CVirus hotline says no testing available in Dade & doesn’t know when it will be. She said I could go to Broward but she couldn’t tell me other than to go to a hospital there.
No. 3: Supervisor at State Health Dept. called and referred me to my doctor; I explained I visited for testing twice. She then referred me to Dade Health Dept (same number I called previously) and said she had spoken with them and they were coordinating testing with doctors and labs and I could contact them for testing. I explained I’d done that and both doctor & Dade Health Dept referred me to the state. [The supervisor] is going to call back Dade Health and get them to call and tell me how to get tested- Maybe!
No 4: Somehow [the supervisor] arranged to have Dade Health send my Dr. a test kit - I was just called by the doctor.
No. 5: I have officially been tested with a nasal swap about 8” long. I’m told it’ll be about 3-4 days for results to return.
March 13: Doctor called. Still no test results - he doesn’t know when but said if chest cough symptoms continue to develop, I would contact Emergency Room for direction.
No. 2: Doctor’s office called and still haven’t received results nor been told when my test results will be available. State is unreachable. Called the county and they sent me back to the doctor who have me the lab’s number who I’ve called. They say they are researching my request.
March 16: Still NO LAB RESULTS. Dr. has called two times today but Labs are overwhelmed.
March 17: Test came back negative for C-19.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 4:59 PM.
