Bradenton man swabbed for COVID-19 a week ago. Blake sending him home without results
It’s been over a week since Michael Northfield was tested for the novel coronavirus. He still doesn’t have his test results.
Northfield, an 81-year-old Cortez resident, was first admitted to Blake Medical Center on March 14, he said in an interview with the Bradenton Herald. He was managing a cough without a fever, and decided to seek medical care because those symptoms line up with COVID-19.
But no one knows whether he has the virus or not.
“They have no explanation. They just have not received (the results). That’s the only explanation I get. Nobody from the hospital has contacted me,” he said. “This is insane.”
Late Wednesday afternoon, the hospital released a statement in response to questions about the Northfield case.
“Blake Medical Center continues to experience delays in receiving lab results, and we understand that this can be stressful for our patients awaiting results,” the statement reads. “The hospital uses both state and private labs, and the turnaround can vary from a day or two to several days. All results are reported to the Health Department so questions regarding numbers of tests in the community and results should be directed there.”
Just before 3 p.m., Northfield said he was told he was being discharged — less than two hours after the Herald first inquired about his case. The hospital has yet to give Northfield the results.
Instead, the attending physician overseeing Northfield’s care told him that he will need to self-isolate at home, including having no physical contact with his own family. He will also need to check in with the doctor daily until they “get the negative results.”
Northfield, whose immune system has been compromised over the years because of chemotherapy for cancer, said doctors diagnosed him with pneumonia when he was first admitted, and tested him for the flu and other potential causes for his respiratory distress. But after all those tests came back negative, he was tested for the new coronavirus two days later.
He was told to expect results in about two to three days, but that came and went with no answers other than “maybe tomorrow.”
“Surely you can get the results from this test in less than a week so that should somebody really need help, they could use my bed,” Northfield said. “It’s just frustrating.”
Northfield has since recovered but has remained in isolation because of the lack of test results. He has not been able have family visit and only a nurse enters his room, bringing him his food, usually cold, in takeout containers.
“My pneumonia cleared up a week ago,” Northfield said.
This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 4:27 PM.
