Over 14 days after Aaron Weeks has been tested for the new coronavirus, the results have failed to come in. By now, Weeks, who comes from Brooklyn, New York, asks himself – and rightly so- what the point of getting the results two weeks after he was tested is. A close contact of his was diagnosed with the virus, so he got himself tested. He never felt sick, but asymptomatic people can still spread the disease to those around them.
The Problem
The problem is that if people that get tested have to wait more than weeks to get the results, the chances of them spreading it without their knowledge is greatly increased. According to Weeks, younger people are especially irresponsible when it comes to issues like quarantining themselves. The fact that the results of tests take more than 14 days to come is entirely unacceptable.
A Traumatizing Experience
Weeks is not the only frustrated patient out there. The fact that COVID-19 lags in its test results, which is a problem that the United States have been fighting since the beginning of the pandemic does not make the mental life of the people involved any easier. For example, Elliot Truslow, a 30-year-old from Tucson, Arizona, explained that she had to wait for almost a month before her test results came. In the end, these were negative. In a statement, Truslow said that waiting 26 days for a test result for an extremely infectious, potentially deadly disease is something that nobody wants to go through.
The Organization’s Comments
The assistant secretary of health and human services for health, Dr. Brett Giroir, who is also in charge of the oversight of testing for COVID-19, has explained this Thursday that the organization is trying to get the results back as soon as they can. He mentioned that some people have waited for more than 12 days for their results, but promised that this is a rare occurrence.
