Shipping Issues Causing Delays Of COVID-19 Test Results In Orange County
SANTA ANA (CBSLA) - With the huge demand for COVID-19 testing during the winter surge in cases, getting test results has taken more time for residents, and some have said they haven't gotten their results at all.
Pictures of undelivered COVID test kit samples were sent to Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley, who said they sat at a FedEx facility for an undetermined time, which may have affected their quality.
County residents who are desperate for answers have received emails, according to the supervisor, that retesting is now recommended.
"We've seen delays in testing results throughout the county. It's been multi-faceted. We've seen cases of delays at FedEx and images of tests sitting in warehouses. We've seen cases of tests coming in too late because of shipping delays and then be invalidated," said Nick Anas, Chief of Staff to Supervisor Foley.
During the Omicron surge, Supervisor Foley has handed out hundreds of free COVID test kits offered by Orange County at vaccine clinics. Booths are set up at John Wayne Airport to distribute the kits and they're mailed to those who request them on Orange County's heath care agency website.
Some of these, however, have been delayed due to shipping issues.
Tim Steed of the Orange County Employees Association represents 10,000 county employees, including public health workers.
"If these aren't being processed, it sets our entire public health safety net behind. We can't do the contract tracing, identify where outbreaks are and identify communities in need where we need to provide additional services. The entire chain breaks if the testing chain breaks," Steed said.
Supervisor Foley said she was looking at opening large drive-thru testing sites at the Honda Center or the fairgrounds and finding new test vendors and couriers.
County Health said increased demand for testing and vaccines, sick employees and winter storms are causing delays throughout every step of the process.
