COVID-19 testing troubles continue on Vancouver Island

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WatchA Victoria woman has been stuck at home isolating after her COVID-19 test went missing. This as testing wait times continues across Vancouver Island. Island Health says things are improving.

Getting tested for COVID-19 on Vancouver Island recently has resulted in frustration and long wait times for some.

A woman who got tested at a private clinic to avoid the waits has also faced a challenge.

Tiffany, who lives in Victoria and last name has been withheld for privacy reasons, has been stuck at home thanks to COVID-19. She’s not in isolation because she has the virus, she just doesn’t know she doesn’t —and apparently nobody does.

“I wanted to keep the people in my life safe and wanted to assure the people around me,” she said.

“[Island Health’s call centre] indicated they would call me back within 24-48 hours, and I had a telehealth appointment at my doctor that day so she encouraged me to get my test there. And she was able to get it done that day which was encouraging.”

Hours later her, My ehealth account indicated her test was sent to Victoria General Hospital.

She says Island Health told her they had no record of test.  It’s possible the swab went to a private lab for further analysis.

A statement from Island Health says “while we can’t speak to specific patients or the care they receive, Island Health processes COVID-19 tests that are done with swabs validated for use within Island Health. Any swab that is not validated for use within Island Health would have to be processed at a lab that has validated that swab and Island Health would not have access to that result.”

After waiting days, Tiffany said she just wanted to get tested again, but that didn’t happen.

“I talked to someone at the B.C. CDC and they say by the time I got it, it would be about a week or 10 days of symptoms,” Tiffany said.

“So [a] test would be inaccurate at that point, so there was no point in getting tested.”

Tiffany has reached out to the clinic.

Island Health says testing on their end has still been swamped. Their call back system is getting people to agents quicker than before, and they say they have doubled testing since September. But waits for some to get tested can still be days. They are working on additional resources for help.

Some are saying these type of hiccups and wait times are creating more inaccurate models and hindering intervention efforts.

“COVID-19 has this property or this chance that patients may start transmitting before they show symptoms,” said Junling Ma, an associate professor at the University of Victoria who focuses on infectious disease models.

“When the results come back most likely the patient who went to testing has already been transmitting the disease to others. So this greatly reduces the effectiveness of contact tracing and fast isolation.”

With only a few days left in Tiffany’s isolation, she says she’s going to hang tough and wait out and hopes others get a smoother process going forward.

Julian KolsutJulian Kolsut

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