Some in Norwalk finding problems accessing their COVID results
NORWALK — While the city has increased COVID-19 testing opportunities throughout the area, some residents said they are running into trouble when it comes to getting their results.
At least three people who spoke with Hearst Connecticut Media said they had to contact Sema4, the company running Norwalk’s COVID-19 testing events, in order to get their results after being tested at Brien McMahon High School. Results are supposed to be accessible through an online portal.
Patients who get tested receive a text afterward with a link to the portal and instructions on how to set up an account. Results should be available within 48 hours of being tested.
All were able to get their test results only after
contacting Sema4’s customer service. One resident said when they called, they found out their name had been misspelled when their information was being entered into the system. Another said their results were simply never posted.
Sema4 issued a statement in response to these complaints, saying they were unaware of anyone in Norwalk still waiting on test results beyond those tested last week. They said only about 5 percent of patients have been impacted by these issues ,which are a result of personal information being entered incorrectly or customers not providing all the information needed to get results.
A spokesperson for the company said the lab is currently processing 30,000 COVID-19 tests a week, a number they said is two times the amount of what they were doing in November and quadruple the amount from October. In response, the company added staff and increased their hours of operation.
“Since April, we have performed hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 viral tests in our state-of-the- art lab in Branford,” the company said in a statement
Monday. The vast majority is for the State of Connecticut, including the pop-up testing that they asked us to perform in Norwalk and other parts of the state over the last few months. Like so many companies across the country offering COVID testing, we’ve faced some challenges as the demand for testing has massively surged. ... Things do not always go perfectly but we have been able to meet our turnaround commitment the vast majority of the time for tests conducted at pop-up sites in Connecticut (and elsewhere).”
The company added that delays are more often due to poor quality samples or low-level positives, which are on the rise as the positivity rate increases. They said there have also been “minor technical issues” from “a small number of people” registering after being tested at multiple Sema4 sites.
“Although we have encountered some QC issues with our pop-up testing in Connecticut, including in Norwalk, 95% of patients have not been impacted,” the company said. “... We are doing our absolute best to get as many people through the pop-ups as we can and to make sure we get their information correct, including asking the patient to verify all details before leaving the testing site.”
Josh Morgan, spokesperson for the city, said Norwalk has been directing people to Sema4 when there are complaints about getting results, as the city is not responsible for testing itself.
“We are simply providing the space for them,” Morgan said.
Sema4 also does COVID testing in Kent, Killingly, Milford, Stamford, Storrs, Tolland, Ver
non, Watertown, and Woodbridge. Stamford is using Sema4 for testing at Stamford High School on Tuesdays and Sundays, as well as for pop-up testing, according to Arthur Augustyn, spokesperson for the mayor’s office.
“The feedback we’ve received is requesting information about how to get their test results, not necessarily about their informa
tion being incorrect,” Augustyn said Monday. “Enough residents have lost the portal’s information that we now published the ‘How do I get my results’ on the testing page. Since publishing that information, we have not received as many inquiries about how to receive test results.”