Tulsa Woman Says She Received Multiple Conflicting Results From 1 COVID-19 Test

A Tulsa woman is urging people to do research before they get a COVID-19 test after her test came back with a variety of results. 

The director at the OSU Health Sciences test site said they have been able to keep up with the demand, but it's not the case with most testing sites.

Safety and precaution are what prompted Maurine Thornton to seek out a COVID-19 test in late June.

"I keep seeing numbers going up and felt it was a responsibility to get tested," she said.

Thornton didn't have symptoms but scheduled a test at a Tulsa CVS on June 26. On July 2, she got an email saying her results were inconclusive. But on July 6, she received a voicemail, saying she was negative.

A few days later, she got a letter, also saying negative. Then, 3 days ago, she received yet another email saying inconclusive. 

"I still can't get a decent answer on what happened to my test," Thornton said.

After this story aired, a CVS spokesperson said that the emails were not sent from them and they only send results by calling and mailing if people do not check their MyChart account.

Thornton said she's worried about people with no symptoms spreading the virus due to long wait times to get results. 

CVS said on average their results are taking 6-10 days because third party labs that are facing backlogs. Many other private testing sites and clinics have those same delays. The state health department said outdated data systems and backlogs are contributing to delays in their reporting as well.

"Some labs are seeing a really increased volume which is leading into a backlog," said Barrett Hunter, the director of compliance and risk management at the OSU Center for Health Sciences. 

One exception to the slow results is at the OSU Center for Health Sciences. They have their own lab and can get results back in 24-48 hours, even though they have a huge demand: an average of 1200 calls and 200 appointments a day.

"We've been able to keep up pretty well with our increased volume," Hunter said.

Thornton just urges people to do their research before getting the test.

"I can't get answers," Thornton said. "I just don't want this to happen to anybody else."

A CVS spokesperson said they are aware of the issues and are looking into the situation.