Omicron surge shows signs of peaking on LI, but test result delays linger

The omicron surge showed further signs that it has peaked on Long Island on Thursday, though there were widespread reported delays in getting results for COVID-19 PCR tests and the statewide daily death toll reached its highest level in nearly a year.

Some Long Islanders say their results have been delayed for seven days or more, which makes the tests effectively useless, given the CDC's guidelines saying infections require five days of isolation if symptoms resolve by that point.

Complaints about the delays came as the number of daily deaths from causes linked to the virus jumped to 196 in the state on Wednesday, the highest level in nearly a year and up from 160 the previous day.

Fatalities from the virus on Wednesday included 13 people in Nassau and 12 in Suffolk.

Still, there were optimistic signs when it came to the seven-day positivity levels on Long Island and across the state. They dropped for the seventh day in a row, indicating the omicron surge may have peaked.

National laboratories 'completely overwhelmed,' expert says

William McCann of Williston Park says he went to a state-run testing site in Hauppauge on Dec. 29, and was told by a worker he would get the results in 24 hours or 48 hours "max."

He didn’t get the results until a week later — well after he needed to know if he was positive for a New Year's family gathering.

The PCR test is "useless," said McCann, 59, a state court worker who had a scratchy throat and runny nose. "There’s no point to doing PCR testing if results come back seven days later. Any chance for quarantine is moot by then."

Others are reporting similar delays at both government-run and private sector testing locations. A Coram woman, Sara Kardasz, said Thursday she was tested Jan. 5 and eight days later still didn't have the result.

Dr. Dwayne Breining, executive director of Northwell Health Labs, said waits of a week for results are not uncommon in many facilities, though Northwell itself is trying to process tests within 48 hours.

Ideally, labs should turn around the tests in a day or two, experts said.

Major national laboratories "are all completely overwhelmed with this omicron spike," Breining said.

That is because omicron "is spreading like wildfire," public awareness of the need to get tested has soared, and the capacity to conduct tests is at unprecedented levels, he said.

"The question becomes how useful is a result a week out from getting" the test, he added. "A week is a long time to wait for a result."

The New York State Department of Health said Thursday that the average turnaround time for test results in the state is three days, though it is higher on Long Island.

The state is working with New Jersey-based BioReference Laboratories, which processes the tests done at state sites, to improve the turnaround times and they are getting better, the department said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul in December authorized certified clinical laboratories to use out-of-state facilities for COVID-19 testing to try to speed up processing times, the department said.

The state did not say why turnaround times are especially slow on Long Island. But labs are clearly dealing with a far greater caseload of tests — 356,699 were conducted in New York State on Wednesday compared with 196,868 on the same date a year ago, according to state data.

"I think they are really doing an incredibly good job, but the surge with the numbers of tests that are being requested are extreme," said Dr. Sharon Nachman, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Stony Brook Medicine.

Breining said most labs are struggling to adjust their systems to handle the exponential increase. He thinks they will eventually get there.

On its website, BioReference Laboratories says: "We are experiencing an unprecedented increase in COVID-19 test volume as a result of the Omicron Variant, the cold weather, and our staff absences from COVID-19 infections.

"At this time, we are experiencing longer than normal turnaround times for test results, and our customer service center is receiving a surge in call volumes, has longer than average wait times, and delayed responses on messaging platforms.

"We are doing our best to return our service to the levels you have come to expect from our laboratory."

On its website, CityMD, another popular urgent care chain for COVID-19 testing, said it is taking three to five days to turn around results for PCR tests.

McCann said his frustrations also extended to securing a testing appointment itself: he tried booking one at pharmacy chains such as CVS and Walgreens, but it was impossible to land anything within a few days.

Kardasz, of Coram, said she went to a Patchogue Urgent Care satellite location in Middle Island to get tested for COVID-19 and was told the result would take five to seven days.

"I was rather surprised by that, but thought it was not too horrible," she said. "On the fifth day, I went back to the site to ask about the testing results. At that point, I was told it would take 10 to 12 days. What's the point of getting tested if the results will take 10 to 12 days?"

As of Thursday afternoon, eight days after taking her test, she still had not received the result.

A medical assistant at Patchogue Urgent Care said the company was experiencing delays in getting results because of backlogs at laboratories, but has switched to a new lab, which is promising to get results out in 24 to 48 hours.

Nachman said that with the lag in getting PCR results, she is recommending people get a rapid test, including at-home ones, if they have COVID-19 symptoms.

With positivity levels currently so high on Long Island, if you test positive with a rapid test it means you probably have the virus and you should move into isolation, she said. A second rapid test can be run a day later for confirmation, but getting the PCR is not necessary, according to Nachman.

New state-run testing site opens on LI

Meanwhile, a new state-run testing site opened at Farmingdale State College on Thursday, adding to the roster of state sites on the Island in Hempstead, Hauppauge and Stony Brook University.

As getting test results lags, federal, state and local government agencies have tried in recent weeks to reduce the amount of time that infected students and teachers spend quarantined out of school.

On Monday, Suffolk County’s Department of Health Services passed along a new state guideline, specifying that those testing positive for COVID-19 must remain in isolation for five days.

Northwell's Breining said he hopes the testing situation will improve soon since positivity levels and case numbers appear to be plateauing on Long Island.

"I think we’ve hit the peak of this thing, and that should make things better," he said.

Nachman said she expects another week of high case numbers on Long Island, and then they should start to fall noticeably.

The seven-day positivity level in testing for the virus dropped by more than a full percentage point on Long Island in the last day, hitting 23.29% on Wednesday. That was down from a record high of 26.76% a week ago.

The number of new daily cases remained high, but well below records set in the last couple of weeks. Nassau registered 4,098 new cases, while Suffolk had 4,413.

The number of people hospitalized in the state with COVID-19 dropped by 219, to 12,452.

With Matt Clark and John Hildebrand

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