Alabama COVID-19 Testing Rife With Delays And Uncertainty
As the number of coronavirus cases in Alabama continues to rise, more people are hoping to be tested. A drive-through testing site on U.S. 280 shut down Tuesday after hordes of people showed up and overwhelmed the private lab.The Alabama Department of Public Health says with a physician’s authorization, an individual can get tested. But laboratories don’t have the manpower to produce results in a timely manner.
More than a week ago, Sevim, an ESL teacher in Huntsville, experienced what she believed to be coronavirus symptoms. She asked us to use her first name only to protect her identity. Her newest student is from Japan. The student came to school sick a couple of weeks ago.
Soon after, Sevim was sick too. She went to an urgent care clinic where she was tested for coronavirus. Two days later, she called for an update on her results.
“I waited on the phone and I found out that the state department threw out my testing, that they didn’t test it,” she says. “That’s all that was told to me.”
Sevim’s symptoms worsened. She called her doctor again, who told her to go to the emergency room. There, she saw another doctor.
“She saw my symptoms and said your symptoms are definitely the coronavirus,” she says. “And I knew it was because I went from the typical flu like to you can’t breathe in your chest and you’re breathless and the mucus just taking over your body.“
Sevim was tested again. Then the doctor sent her home to self-isolate while she waited for the results. Several days later, she’s still waiting.
Sevim’s story isn’t unique. Even some private labs are having difficulty turning around test results quickly.
Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the division of infectious diseases at UAB on Monday said tests are available for people who need them. However, she said laboratories across the state don’t have the personnel to provide test results.
“So right now, we’re still operating in a situation where it’s taking us 48 to 72 hours to get test results back,” she says. “That’s not okay. We need same-day testing. We need test results really quickly.”
Initially, the Alabama Department of Public Health said labs must report positive test results within four hours of identification. But that seems nearly impossible. Marazzo says the demand is quickly outstripping the resources laboratories have available. That’s not only an issue in Alabama, Marrazzo says, but in lots of places across the country.
After his mother’s death, Ocean Vuong wrote his way out of grief
Vuong's new novel, The Emperor of Gladness, is the first he's written, from start to finish, since his mother died in 2019. He says writing it was a way to honor her memory.
Trump says he and Musk ‘had a great relationship. I don’t know if we will anymore’
Trump said he was surprised that his former adviser Elon Musk is scorching the Republican megabill, but said he thought Musk was wrong and conflicted in his criticism.
Concerns over conditions in U.S. immigration detention: ‘We’re hearing the word “starving” ‘
ICE detentions have surged, but deportations have lagged. Over the past month, NPR spoke to dozens of detainees, families and lawyers who spoke of overcrowded facilities lacking food and medicine.
In vitro fertilization emerges as a central issue in the Alabama state Supreme Court race
An Alabama fertility lawyer announced her candidacy for the state Supreme Court, emphasizing her personal experience with in vitro fertilization and blasting a controversial 2024 decision that ruled frozen embryos can be considered children under state law.
FBI Director Patel, a longtime bureau critic, begins to put his stamp on the agency
Since taking the helm more than 100 days ago, Patel has yet to shutter the FBI headquarters and reopen it as a museum as he once said he would, but he has begun trying to remake the bureau.
Why inflation data won’t include prices from these cities in Utah, Nebraska and New York
The federal government is scaling back data collection used to calculate the inflation rate. Economists warn that could make for less accurate cost-of-living measures.
