People say they’re waiting days or weeks for COVID-19 test results; 11 Investigates why

Hundreds of coronavirus tests are being administered daily in Western Pennsylvania, but some patients say they are waiting days and even weeks to get their results.

“They told me it would take five to seven days. That was on March 18,” said Tanya McCollum.

McCollum had a 102-degree fever and body aches, so she went to a drive-up testing site in Butler and patiently waited for her results.

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“So, I waited a couple of days and called back and they said no, it's still pending and I got stuck in a batch that went to California and everything got delayed,” McCollum said.

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“Very, because everyone around me was scared that I had it,” McCollum said.

This week, 14 days after getting a nasal swab, Mccollum learned she tested negative.

After hearing dozens of stories like McCollum’s, 11 Investigates began digging into why it’s taking so long for patients to get results.

UPMC can turn around coronavirus testing in 12-24 hours, although some cases are outsourced to private labs, which can take longer.

Allegheny Health Network said in-patient test results are done within 24 hours, while out-patient takes five to seven days.

But much of the coronavirus testing nationwide is done through private labs, which can have longer wait times.

Labcorp takes four to five days from when the sample is picked up to when a patient gets results.

Quest Diagnostics reported the same turnaround time, but the company is also dealing with a backlog of 115,000 tests.

“A lot of people are catching the virus and overwhelming a system that had not ramped up throughout the entire production, supply and testing chain to meet the demand,” said Dr. Alan Wells, the medical director for UPMC’s clinical labs.

Wells said medical systems appear to be keeping up with demand for now, but with community spread on the rise, he believes backlogs will continue.

“Hopefully, we're all practicing appropriate self-quarantining if we're at all symptomatic or post-symptomatic,” Wells said.

Quest and Labcorp say they are prioritizing high-risk patients, dropping turnaround times to two or three days, but the long wait by the phone for most out-patients is unlikely to change anytime soon.

11 Investigates what took so long for COVID-19 testing to be widely implemented 11 Investigates what took so long for COVID-19 testing to be widely implemented

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