Some state labs facing delays delivering COVID-19 test results
Maryland reported a record 55,912 newly administered COVID-19 tests Friday — the third record in asmanyweeks.
And as a result, some labs in the state are seeing slowdowns in delivering test results. In some cases, patients are waiting up to a week for their results, a delay that renders results far less meaningful, experts say.
Statewide, the median turnaround is anywhere between one and a half and five days, but there are certainly outliers, said Jonathan Weinstein, director of the COVID-19 Testing Task Force at theMaryland Department ofHealth. Those who test positive will likely hear fromhealth officials more quickly, he said.
‘We had a couple of instances just based on volume where one or another lab got backlogged, they had a couple people fall ill over the holidays,” he said. “There were some issues where one lab or another, their turnaround times went to the six or seven days.”
For that reason, the state has made an effort to transfer tests from overburdened labs to those with more bandwidth, Weinstein said.
Weinstein said the testing surge came as expected — during the week prior to Thanksgiving and then the week after — and may calm until Christmas reignites it.
“I expect we’ll have these high numbers for a few days, and again it’ll probably tail off for another week or so before folks are thinking of traveling to work for Christmas andNewYear’s,” he said.
In Baltimore County, for instance, November shattered testing records. More than 15,000 tests were administered there, said Della Leister, the county’s deputy health officer. In the months prior, fewer than 9,000 tests were administered. The corresponding slowdown in results has forced the county to make some adjustments.
“It is relative upon the lab, but the bulk of labs are probably 30% or 50% slower than they were even a month ago,” Leister said. “We used to tell people not to call us until three to five days if they hadn’t gotten the result. Nowit’s up to five to seven.”
Leister said those who have been exposed to the virus or have symptoms should quarantine fully, regardless of any test results.
Baltimore County is also training additional workers for its testing sites, the most popular of which is at the Timonium Fairgrounds, and will soon require appointments at its health center testing sites to keep lines to a minimum, Leister said.
Baltimore City has also seen a large increase in demand for tests: the number of tests conducted during Thanksgiving week was 36% higher than four weeks ago. But it hasn’t led to a noticeable slowdown in turnaround time, according to the city health department.
“While the average time it takes to receive COVID-19 test results in Baltimore remains steady at 2-4 days, due to the diversity of testing locations, performed by a number of clinical partners, theremay be small variations,” wrote city health department spokesman Adam Abadir in a statement.
The Thanksgiving holidaymay also have contributed to a testing slowdown at CVS locations across the state.
“On average, test results are typically available in 3-4 days, but may take longer due to the current surge in COVID-19 cases and increased testing demand during the holiday season,” wrote CVS spokesperson Charlie Rice-Minoso in a statement.
For months, a testing record set in early August — 40,672 — reigned. But in late November, daily tests began climbing above 50,000. As Maryland has posted more and more testing records, though, the positivity rate has remained high. On Friday, the rate climbed to 8%, the highest total in months. The state also reported a record number of coronavirus cases Friday— 3,792.