Arizona leaders admit there aren't enough COVID-19 tests to go around, and right now both the state and commercial labs are prioritizing tests for people like healthcare workers and first responders. But those aren't the only people getting sick.
"It’s almost like you have a ticking time bomb in you," explained Chris Cardinal of Phoenix. "You don’t want to catch this. It’s rough. It’s exhausting. It’s frustrating. It’s scary."
He's certain he had the coronavirus, although he couldn't get a test done to prove it. His wife, on the other hand, is a positive case.
They both started feeling symptomatic in mid-March: coughing, fatigue, losing the sense of taste and smell. They were both turned away from a drive-thru testing clinic, Chris says, because they didn't have fevers. But his wife was able to get in to see a different doctor, who as able to do a swab.
"The PCP actually mentioned that she wasn’t sending tests the Arizona labs," Chris said. "She said she had too many labs sit on a shelf on hold somewhere for five or six days and the sample goes bad and they expire and they don’t end up testing it."
Instead, the doctor sent his wife's sample to a lab in New York.
"We ended up getting positive results for my wife the next day," he said.
One day – while other Arizonans are left waiting weeks.
"They said five to seven days," said Lynette Lopez.
She wound up waiting 15 days for results. Thankfully, they were negative, but a burden nonetheless.
She works at a hotel in Tucson and couldn't work until she had results. She said the forced time off drained all her PTO and sick days.
And now, even though she's cleared to work, they had to schedule ahead without her.
"I had no hours. I wasn’t on the schedule. They had to give those hours to other people," Lopez said.
We want to hear from you. Tell us your testing story here.
12 News has heard from more than a dozen people in Arizona with similar stories: results taking too long, tests discontinued, jobs and income on hold.
All this as limits on testing grow more strict.
In a March 25 directive, Dr. Cara Christ "discouraged" primary care physicians from testing most patients for COVID-19 due to testing demand outweighing the supply. ADHS is also advising that the state and commercial labs prioritize swabs they run, starting with healthcare workers and first responders.
"I know that everybody wants a test," Governor Doug Ducey said during last Thursday's Town Hall interview. "But we really have to prioritize these tests. We have to make sure the people on the front lines that are going to take care of the folks that contract this disease do not have it themselves."
Dr. Andrew Caroll in Chandler has been paying close attention to the changes and limitations.
"I know the reasons that the state has asked people to not test everybody or not to globally screen everybody," he said. "I disagree with that."
He said the shortages put doctors in a tough spot who want to be able to test patients who are critically ill.
"The solution to this will not be for us to no longer test," he added. "The solution will be to get enough test kits into the hands of front-line physicians so that we can do the testing as we see clinically appropriate."
As for Chris and his wife, he said they felt better after their 14-day quarantine and are now more than a week without symptoms.
"We’re out of the woods," he said.
But that's not the case for many others. Chris explained that his wife is a retired nurse. And because she's already tested positive and has beaten the virus, there's a chance she could be called back to work to help fight on the front lines.
"If she’s got some immunity here, the far less likely chance she’ll get reinfected," he says. "I think that will make me feel a lot better sending her into the war zone."
The CDC does have guidance on healthcare workers going back to work after testing positive for COVID-19 or having symptoms.
