25 Investigates: Where are the coronavirus test kits?

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s slow rollout of testing kits to physicians and hospitals may have led to a missed opportunity to contain the spread of Coronavirus or COVID-19, according to Dr. Rafay Mehdi of Hanover.

Mehdi, a primary care physician, tells 25 Investigates that the new guidelines announced Wednesday, March 4, which will allow physicians to start testing for coronavirus, may come, “a little too late.”

New guidance issued by the CDC on Wednesday means any patient with a doctor's order can be tested for the virus. It removed earlier restrictions that limited testing for the virus to people who'd been hospitalized with a fever and respiratory symptoms.

“Right now, to tell patients [that] you do have symptoms but we are not going to test you but go quarantine yourself, it becomes very confusing and frustrating for the patients,” said Mehdi.

But it is still unclear when Massachusetts will receive the additional test kits and when they will be distributed to doctor’s offices.

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Mehdi, who has already had to turn away two patients who he believed fit the criteria, worries that Wednesday’s announcement may be too late, as patients who may be carrying the virus are going untested.

“Not having that kit for this long [...] we may have missed the boat is what my concern is,” he said.

A sign on doctor Mehdi’s office door informs patients with flu-like symptoms that his office will not be able to test them for coronavirus because they do not have the adequate kits.

"We don't have the answer yet about when are we getting it," he added.

Under the previous guidelines, the decision to conduct a test on a patient was made by the CDC.

That determination was based on criteria for Persons Under Investigation (PUI). A PUI for coronavirus includes individuals who have a fever or symptoms of respiratory illness, had contact with a COVID-19 patient, traveled to China, Iran, Italy and South Korea and was suffering severe respiratory distress that would require hospitalization.

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"I had a patient that traveled to what is called Level 3 city, had respiratory distress symptoms that sort of met the criteria,” said Mehdi. However, that patient did not qualify for testing. According to Mehdi, the CDC felt the person did not meet enough criteria, so the patient was instructed to self-quarantine.

“One of the officials said, ‘But they are not dying, right?’ I said, ‘Well, yes, but wouldn’t that be too late?’” Mehdi told 25 Investigates’ Kerry Kavanaugh.

There is little information on when doctors like Mehdi will be able to take action and begin testing themselves. Neither the Massachusetts Department of Health nor the CDC offered a better timeline. DPH says that the state’s sole testing lab is responding to current testing requests within 24 hours.

We also asked whether the state’s lone lab would be able to handle all of the samples coming from doctors and hospitals. In an emailed statement the agency said:

“DPH has provided guidance to both clinicians and clinical laboratories about the protocol for collecting and submitting specimens for COVID-19 testing. If demand for testing increases, DPH will develop a system of prioritization based on what is known about COVID-19 and where the virus is known to be circulating. For example, patients with severe illness might be prioritized in order to guide medical decisions.”

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