KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas State University student is frustrated with the delay in his COVID-19 test results.
Noah Ochsner told 41 Action News on Thursday that he was tested nearly two weeks ago on March 20, and he still has no idea if he's positive or not.
“I think people should just know that we’re having extreme delays in testing," Ochsner said.
Ochsner is a sophomore at Kansas State. Before the World Health Organization declared the pandemic, Ochsner said he and some of his fraternity brothers took a trip for spring break.
“Me and some of my fraternity brothers went skiing in Steamboat Springs (in Colorado) and then we went to Moab, Utah, to go to some national parks. When we got back, I started to kind of get a little sick," Ochsner said.
Ochsner said he returned home with a cough and shortness of breath and was referred by his primary care doctor to get tested for coronavirus.
“About a day after testing, I got a fever for like a day and that was it and now I’m fine," Ochsner said.
Ochsner told 41 Action News that he's feeling well now, but the delay in results is what's making him sick. He said he's been calling LabCorp for days to get his results — and 13 days later, he has received nothing.
“The blame here is definitely on those companies that are performing the tests. I mean, they’re underperforming and leaving people in limbo for days on end," Ochsner said.
LabCorp told 41 Action News the turnaround time for results is approximately four to five days, though that varies depending on factors such as transport time. The company says employees are working around the clock to complete every test, and since March 5, they've completed more than 250,000 tests.
Another major commercial lab company is also working on its backlog. Quest Diagnostics says it has reduced its backlog from 160,000 tests to 115,000 currently.
“It’s kind of alarming, kind of concerning. It’s definitely an issue that people should know about," Ochsner said. "If I’m having this amount of delay, there’s more people like me that are also having a delay like this. What other issues could we possibly be having that we don’t know about?"
