PLANT CITY, Fla. — Thousands of people have stood in line over the past couple of weeks for hours on end at some Tampa Bay area locations, waiting to get swabbed for COVID-19.
Holly Dedon is one of those people.
"I still have my cough," Dedon said while talking with 10 Investigates' Jennifer Titus. "But, my throat has stopped hurting."
Those symptoms are why Dedon book a COVID-19 est. Her appointment was on Jan. 2 at the Hillsborough County testing site in Plant City.
"I sat in line for 2 hours," said Dedon.
Holly didn’t mind as results would be ready she was told within 24-48 hours.
"Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. It's Thursday now. I am on day five with no test results," said Dedon. “My employer wanted the results by Wednesday. I'm like I don't know what to tell you."
Turns out Holly isn’t the only one waiting.
Social media posts on the county’s website has people asking the same thing.
One woman wrote, "We (3 adults) were tested in Plant City on Friday 12/31/21 at approximately 2:00 p.m. As of 4:45 pm on Tuesday 1/4/22 no results have been received."
The county outsourced with a company called Statlab Mobile.
According to a recording on a voicemail, patients were told it acknowledges delays for those tested over the holiday weekend, citing the reason due to an unprecedented number of tests and weather cancellations for carrier shipments. In a statement Friday morning, it said:
"Due to the recent surge in Covid testing across the state, the lab ran into reagent supply issues and had to send samples to outside labs to help with the backlog. In combination with logistical challenges coinciding with the new year's holiday weekend, we did not meet the goal of a 48-72 hour turnaround time for the patients who visited the Plant City testing site.
"We, along with our lab partner, are working tirelessly to get the Plant City samples processed as quickly as possible to deliver the remaining results by the first part of this weekend."
"It's crazy," said Dedon.
She showed us what she's taking to try and feel better. From cough drops to elderberry and zinc. She just wishes she knew whether she was treating a cold or COVID-19.
"If you're going to say you're going to do your job, then do your job," said Dedon.
According to the recording from Statlab, most people should have their results by Friday evening if you were tested over the New Year's holiday weekend.
Hillsborough County did release a statement regarding the delays that says:
"Hillsborough County is coordinating with Statlab, the vendor that worked the Plant City Community Resource Center COVID-19 testing site over the weekend, to discern the status of any outstanding COVID-19 test results."
10 Investigates also reached out to other Bay Area Health Departments about what kind of delays they are seeing. These are what some had to say:
Pasco County Department of Health: "We don’t track testing results and normal turnaround time has always been 3-5 days. From my understanding, there were no backlogs being reported locally."
Sarasota County Department of Health: "We don’t track that, and I’m not aware of any backlogs in reporting locally."
Pinellas County Department of Health: "I am unaware of any backlogs in notifications at the CDR Maguire managed sites."