South Florida physicians are reporting that some patients who got sick of waiting in line at CB Smith Park in Broward county, and left without getting tested for coronavirus, received a positive test result in the mail because they left and screwed up the lineup chronology.
This outcome has been reported dozens of times and means that positive people may have received a negative result and a negative person received the opposite. Go to our website 850wftl.com for more information on the testing problem.
“I got a call asking for me, and they told me that I had tested positive. I was like, ‘Positive for what?” Then, the lady said for COVID, and I said, ‘That’s impossible. I never got tested, Ma’am,’” Mindy Clark said.
Clark had gone to the drive thru testing sight at Manatee Rural Health, but before she was able to get swabbed, she left the line because she realized it was for people with symptoms only.
“I told them they needed to take this off my record, and they said I had to prove it to them that I wasn’t positive,” Clark continued.
She tested negative just two days later, and also tested negative for the antibodies. So how accurate are the numbers that are released daily in the state of Florida?
“This is part of the testing mechanism problem. People are sitting in their cars, sometimes for hours, or standing in line, six feet apart sometimes for hours. You’re registered though, you’re number 15 in line, and you are Jay Wolfson.
If Jay Wolfson can’t wait any longer and he leaves, it will get number 15 and now get Rebecca Fernandez, who was standing behind him, and she tests positive, and then everyone from then on gets the wrong results. There has to be a better way to do this,” Dr. Jay Wolfson, Public Health & Medicine Professor for the University of South Florida told MySuncoast WWSB in Sarasota.
While all this is happening, the virus continues to spread since the right people are not identified.
“It’s such a bad time. These last five months have been so bad. People don’t need these added mistakes. Everyone is already so nervous and trying so hard, and these mistakes are really causing more anxiety in people,” Clark expressed.
“The trust is real, but the disease is more real. Trust the fact that the disease is real. The data may be confusing, the state has to clean up their act, but the disease is real and very concerning. Protect yourself. Be safe out there. Be safe and be well,” said Dr. Jay Wolfson.
If you’ve received a test result, but were never actually tested for COVID-19, please call the Florida Department of Health, (850) 245-4444, and get it sorted out.
It is important to make sure those results are removed from your health record and the COVID-19 database.