Rachael Wright has questioned the wait time for Covid-19 test results. Photo / Andrew Warner
Rachael Wright has questioned the wait time for Covid-19 test results. Photo / Andrew Warner
It took five and a half days for essential worker Rachael Wright to get the results of her first Covid-19 test despite being a close contact of a positive case.
Pathlab says there's no backlog and such a delay is uncommon but not unusual. A spokeswoman advises if urgent resultswere needed it's best to get a test with a GP instead of going to a community testing centre.
Wright had to self-isolate after finding out on Thursday last week she had been in contact with a person who had Covid-19 in Rotorua on Sunday, January 23.
She got the news too late on that Thursday to get a test but got one immediately on Friday morning before heading home to continue self-isolating.
Wright said given she was a close contact of a positive case, the Ministry of Health contacted her on Saturday at which time she informed the official she had developed a runny nose.
Rachael Wright has questioned the wait time for Covid-19 test results. Photo / Andrew Warner
She was advised to get another test so headed to the testing station again. This time she was told her test would be marked urgent, given she was a close contact with symptoms.
She still had no results by Monday when she headed back to the testing station to get her day eight test.
On Tuesday night she received a negative result from her Saturday test and on Wednesday morning she received a negative result from her Monday test.
She received her negative result from her Friday test on Wednesday afternoon after the Rotorua Daily Post contacted Pathlab.
She questioned how Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern could get a result within 24 hours yet hers took longer than five days.
"If the system can't keep up now, what's it going to be like when Omicron comes?"
She said she wasn't aware it was best to go to her GP.
A Pathlab spokeswoman said an unknown glitch in the system resulted in Wright not getting her Friday test result sooner. She said on average tests were completed at Pathlab between 24 and 48 hours of receiving the specimen, although several factors influenced the turnaround time.
She said it could take 12 or 24 hours to get the specimen from the community testing centres, then the results needed to be sent back to the centres to be distributed to the individuals, which could take another 12 to 24 hours.
She said the community testing centres did not record if a person was an essential worker, unlike someone's doctor who could mark tests as urgent and have results back within 24 hours, as would have been the case with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
Although uncommon, it wasn't out of the ordinary for some tests to take several days. Other factors such as volume of work, weekends and public holidays could also cause delays.
Ardern has previously said rapid antigen tests will be used more widely in the fight against Omicron.
A Lakes District Health Board spokesperson said swabbing centre results were automatically generated once they were reported and a text was sent to the patient with the result.
"Please be patient, volumes of testing have increased and everyone is working hard to ensure people get results as soon as possible."
Rachael Wright has questioned the wait time for Covid-19 test results. Photo / Andrew Warner
