Mandatory COVID-19 testing every three days for essential workers in the Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown local government areas have blown out turnaround times for test results to three days and beyond, as private laboratories concede they are struggling to keep up with the demand.
For Sydney man Mitch Watt, he says he is yet to receive his test results 16 days after visiting the drive-through clinic in Tempe operated by Laverty Pathology on 15 July.
"My life was on hold. I couldn't go to work," the 35-year-old told SBS News.
With his employer under lockdown in Canterbury-Bankstown, Mr Watt, who lives in Marrickville, had assumed the role of acting manager for his workplace in St Peter's, which builds theatre and stage props.
The company falls into the category of manufacturing, so is allowed to continue operating, and as it was outside the LGAs with heightened restrictions, Mr Watt was allowed to attend work.
He chose to go for a test after a person with whom he had exchanged business rental documents at the workplace advised that their partner had tested positive for COVID-19.
Mitch Watt is disappointed with his COVID-19 test experience. Source: Supplied
"We had both been wearing masks," Mr Watt said. "[As a business] we weren't told by NSW Health to get tested. I did it as a precaution."
He spent five days isolating inside his house, as is required by NSW Health for those awaiting test results.
After day three, he put in numerous phone calls to Laverty Pathology to follow up when the laboratory texted to say the test results were ready but never followed through on whether he was positive or negative.
"I was on hold for 40 minutes. Finally, I got through to an operator. I said: 'I am calling to get my COVID test results', and then the person on the other end just laughed and mumbled something about putting me through to another line.
"And the other line was an automated voice message, which I had called previously, and it just disconnected.
"So I wasted an entire hour on the phone, just to get laughed at. And then after that, I just gave up."
Mr Watt was able to use his saved-up sick leave to ensure he did not lose income during the time he could not go to work; and his partner was able to help him out during the five days he remained inside, but he acknowledges others aren't as fortunate.
A drive-through testing clinic. Source: AAP
"There are so many people who cannot afford to be tied up for days on end, with no certainty," he said.
"I was lucky because my girlfriend can kind of look after things. But if you are a person living by yourself and have no one to provide for you, you would have to go out into the community potentially while you had COVID. And that is the dangerous part of the whole situation really."
"To be honest, it was pretty horrible staying home for all of that time and not knowing when the results are coming. (I was) feeling pretty anxious, pretty annoyed and pretty frustrated."
'No tests have been lost'
Laverty Pathology, which operates 62 clinics in New South Wales, has one lab processing results in excess of its capacity of 10,000 tests a day.
The company, owned by ASX-listed Healius Ltd, said it has been "processing a large proportion" of the daily tests in NSW, with the high volume resulting in "a small number of patients who have yet to receive their results from tests taken over 72 hours ago".
The company did not comment on Mr Watt's case but confirmed in a statement provided to SBS News that it had at one point sent testing samples interstate for processing.
"We are working through these results as quickly as possible, having recruited additional resources and taken several measures to assist," the spokesperson said.
Source: SBS Arabic24
"These measures have included sending some COVID samples to network partners interstate. However, we have now been able to bring all work back into the NSW laboratory."
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant has said test results are being expedited by laboratories for those who declare themselves a close contact, rather than someone getting tested as a precaution, such as Mr Watt.
Laverty Pathology said it had managed to employ a triage system to ensure faster processing times within 24 hours for health workers and for those identified by NSW Health as close contacts.
"All other results should be available within approximately 48 hours," it said, adding that turnaround times "may fluctuate... if testing numbers rise [further]".
In a statement recently posted to Facebook, the company reassured patients that no test results had been lost.
"No tests have been lost. We are currently processing a record number of tests and doing all we can to get your result back to you as soon as possible."
It said efforts are also being made to communicate changes on expected processing times at collection sites and on their website and social media channels.
'Have patience'
Essential workers outside of Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown have reported waiting three days for test results and having to cancel vaccination bookings as a result of the home isolation requirements.
Four days after the stricter testing mandate for those areas was announced, NSW Health said the processing time for test results had stretched to 72 hours, instead of the previous turnaround time of between 24 and 48 hours.
NSW Health urged people waiting to have "patience" and allow three days before contacting their clinic for test results.
The department denied that there had been delays longer than three days for the processing and notification of test results.
NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant. Source: Getty Images
"There is no delay in the delivery of positive results and NSW Health Pathology’s laboratories deliver negative results in a standard 24 to 72-hour timeframe," an NSW Health spokesperson told SBS News.
The department said NSW Health Pathology had surge capacity to process 23,000 tests a day, with a standard daily capacity of 15,000 tests a day.
It said private labs had "been a vital support to the testing effort" in NSW and that work is being done to ensure companies deliver on "fast turnaround times for test results".
People urged to get tested without delay
Dr Chant has urged people to overcome any hesitancy and present themselves for COVID-19 testing, after reports of residents in western and south-western Sydney .
"Don't delay getting tested. Get tested as with COVID you can deteriorate very quickly. Just please, never be fearful of coming to health services for care. We have great health services, and provide incredibly good care."
"We've had a number of people that are presented to hospital severely unwell and sometimes dead."
New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday insisted contact tracers are "not overwhelmed" as the number of exposure sites expanded.
"Of course, resources are always stretched during an outbreak, but I’m grateful for the support we’ve received from our contact tracers but also the external support we received," she said.
"The public should not be concerned about our ability to resource what we need."
This week saw NSW experience a record high of 110,962 COVID-19 tests conducted in one 24-hour period.
On its website, NSW Health states: "It is important for the ongoing control of COVID-19 in NSW that anyone in the state who has any COVID-19 symptoms, no matter how mild, continues to get tested immediately and self-isolates until a negative test result is received".
For Mr Watt, he got tested again on day seven at a drive-through clinic in Haberfield run by 4Cyte Pathology. He got his results - which were negative - within 12 hours.
"It would have been so much better [for Laverty Pathology] to say: 'we screwed up, we took too many samples and we don't have enough people to analyse them'," he said.
"Just be honest with the public. Let me know if I should go elsewhere, so I can move on."
