North Texas Mother With Apparent Symptoms Says She Has Issues Getting Coronavirus Testing
(CBSDFW.COM) - North Texans wanting to know if they've been infected with COVID-19 are finding barriers to testing.
President Donald Trump last week said, "Anybody who wants a test can get a test."
But, the government's top infectious disease doctor told a Congressional committee Thursday it's not quite so easy.
"The idea of anybody getting it easily the way other countries are doing it, we're not set up for that. Do I think we should be? Yes, but we're not," Dr. Anthony Fauci said.
A Tarrant County mother, quarantining herself at her doctor's recommendation, spoke to CBS 11 about her efforts to get tested, asking we not share her name.
"Monday night, my fever had spiked and I was having upper respiratory breathing problems," she said.
She said she and several coworkers became sick after coming into contact with a customer who had traveled to China.
"I'm high risk because I'm a cancer survivor. I also have auto-immune disorders, and I checked off all the boxes for corona," she said.
When her doctor requested she be tested, she said the health department told him she didn't meet the criteria because it had no evidence she'd been in contact with anyone else who'd already tested positive.
The Texas Department of State Health Services says public labs are focused on individuals with symptoms who've either been hospitalized, been in contact with a known COVID-19 case or traveled to an area where the virus is spreading.
The mother said her doctor tried ordering a test from one of two private labs currently fielding high demand.
"The warehouse voicemail was full, so they weren't even sure the order went through," she said.
She said once the order is processed it can take another three days for a collection kit to arrive, which will then have to be shipped back with nose and throat swabs for analysis.
She and her doctor are still waiting.
"That's the frustrating part… I feel like I do trust my doctor and that they're trying to do everything I can," she said.