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Letter to the editor: There should not be a wait for coronavirus testing

Jessie Snider
Breckenridge

My child’s school cohort was recently quarantined. We were notified Wednesday by the school district and told that our student would be within the testing window starting the next day. I immediately called to schedule a test. The scheduler for Centura Health told me that the earliest I would be able to get my child tested was Sunday morning. That would have been 10 days after exposure and four days from the beginning of quarantine.

After discussing the testing delay with another parent, I reached out directly to Public Health Director Amy Wineland and the county commissioners to express my disappointment in the fact that I cannot get my child tested in a timely fashion. I received an immediate response saying that students get priority testing and was contacted directly to get on the testing schedule for Thursday. Later that day, Centura suggested to another parent that she drive to Vail to get her child tested before Monday. She was able to get a test scheduled for the following day but only after also directly contacting the health department.

One of the “six commitments” laid out by the county is to get tested if you have symptoms or are a close contact. Not getting on the testing schedule for four days, having to email elected officials and employees of the county in order to get tested in a timely fashion, and being told to go to Vail to get tested is not conducive to getting this virus under control. Anyone should be able to get a test at any time and shouldn’t have to go through back channels to get it scheduled within a reasonable timeframe.



I’m very grateful for the prompt response I received; however, it’s a shame I had to go to such measures to get results.


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