MIAMI (WSVN) - Getting tested for COVID-19 has led to frustration and worry for some, and while some people who wanted to get tested for the virus got turned away from healthcare providers, others who did get tested are now waiting for results.
There are 154 cases of the coronavirus statewide with five people dead.
Broward County has the largest cluster of cases at 38, while Miami-Dade has 23.
The subjects 7News interviewed for this story via FaceTime are either very sick or family members they’ve been surrounded by are very sick.
Tests for coronavirus are still not easily obtainable, and they’re flat-out impossible for some.
Pedro Jimenez has been at Mercy Hospital in Miami for over a week. He said his doctors suspect he has COVID-19, but they were not able to test him until Saturday — six days after he was admitted.
“My pulmonologist … basically, he heard my lungs, and the only comment he made was, ‘You’re not doing good,'” he said.
Jimenez said he has asthma and diabetes, and his fever has been around 102 degrees. Two days after getting the COVID-19 test, he’s in isolation waiting for the results. The doctors and nurses are wearing special suits.
“They’re all covered, basically. They have a special mask with a switch in the back and a box that I assume is oxygen, because they’re all covered like an astronaut,” Jimenez said.
Lynne Levy said she had to fight for days to get her husband the COVID-19 test after he got sick when they were turned away from the A-PAC convention in Washington, D.C. They still don’t have the results.
“To this day, I don’t know. I don’t have that test result back from Thursday,” she said. “The head of the hospital contacted the CDC. His team, his infectious disease doctor, the pulmonologist — they all contacted the CDC to try to expedite it. Nobody can expedite it. Today is day five. My husband is in critical care breathing oxygen.”
Levy said the only way her son was able to get tested was by checking himself into the ER. None of them have results yet.
“I’m frustrated beyond belief, and I think it’s an utter disgrace,” Levy said. “People need to know the truth.”
Even for people showing symptoms of COVID-19, it’s hard to get the test.
One Broward County woman said her husband has a fever and breathing problems, but she keeps getting the runaround.
When asked how many people she called to get the test for her husband and if they were able to help her, she said that she’s contacted the Florida Health Department, the Broward County Health Department, urgent care centers, and primary care physicians — none of whom assisted her.
Jimenez sent this message to people who aren’t taking the coronavirus pandemic seriously enough. “This is a big deal. My recommendation to everybody is if you feel that you’ve been close to somebody who has the virus, all you have to do is take action.”
In a conference call with the CEOs of major hospitals in South Florida, one of the big issues they cited was that while Memorial and Baptist can provide the test on people, their labs can’t read the results because they’re missing an agent, which is one of the mixtures that is currently on backorder.
They hope that the drive-thru testing sites will open up and people will get that much-needed test.
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