COVID testing ordeal may last 11 days for Saint John family

A runny nose may turn into an 11-day ordeal for one Saint John family.

Debroah Green's son returned from a visit to his father's last Saturday with several symptoms ofCOVID-19.

Green messaged her son's teacher on Saturday to see what steps she needed to take, and the teacher told her she needed to get her son tested.

After a couple calls with the province's 811 service she received an appointment for Thursday morning, but was told she could get the results as late as next Tuesday.

Parent loses five days' pay, waiting for son's COVID results.

4 years ago

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Deborah Green says testing must get faster or families will try to avoid reporting their children's symptoms to schools.

"If I don't get the results back from them until Monday or Tuesday, I'm looking at possibly seven days of work missed," said Green.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell said Friday thatshe knows the testing delays are a problem and people in the Health Department are trying to improve the situation.

Moving resources around

"Early on in the Fredericton area, we were having challenges. We solved all those and then we had some challenges in the Saint John area. We're working on those."

Russell said the solution is just a matter of "moving the resources around."

She is also hoping a new online system to request a test will get people in the queue faster.

"We are trying to promote that more," Russell said.

It's now possible to request a test by going to the Health Department's webpageat gnb.ca/health.

Click on "Coronavirus" and then "launch self assessment."

Green said the bureaucracy of the testing process made the ordeal unnecessarily long.

"The reason why it's taken so long right now for my son is because he's not an adult," said Green.

"If he was an adult, the results would be online for him to access, I think, within 24 hours. But because he's a child, I have to wait for someone to phone me. Even though I am the adult of that child, I can't access his results. "

Absences likely to continue

Russell said the goal is to have appointments scheduled within a couple of days and results back within 72 hours of having a test done.

But that means even if the goal is met, students and their parents can still expect to be home from school and work for a full week or more.

Green said that in her case, it's not even a matter of finding child care for her son. Her employer has a policy of not allowing workers in if they may have been in contact with someone being tested forCOVID-19.

She said she spoke with Service Canada, the Department of Social Development and her local MP and there are no programs she qualifies for.

She said her experience makes her concerned that other parents will try to hide symptoms from the school.

"They're not going to report, no, because who can afford to lose a week and a half's pay if that's how long this whole testing process is going to take?"

Russell said she hopes employers can be flexible because this situation is likely going to continue through the school year.

Many COVID-19 symptoms overlap with cold and flu symptoms, she said, meaning a flu shot will be more important than ever.

Some families tell CBC News they are being instructed to keep their children home from daycare because of runny noses.

That is one of the symptoms that allows you to sign up for a test. The complete list is:

• new cough or a cough that is getting worse

• sore throat

• headache

• runny nose

• new onset fatigue

• new onset muscle pain

• diarrhea

• loss of taste or smell

However, a runny nose is not a symptom that Russell is very concerned about.

"Certainly fever, diarrhea and vomiting we don't want kids in the school system who have those symptoms," she said.

People who have two or more of those symptoms are asked to self-isolate.