Cullman Co. woman claims family has been turned away while trying to get tested for coronavirus

Updated: Mar. 10, 2020 at 10:35 PM CDT
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CULLMAN, Ala. (WBRC) - A Cullman County woman claims she’s having a tough time getting her daughter tested for the coronavirus.

For safety reasons, we spoke to the woman over the phone. The woman who went by “Cheryl” said her daughter had been sick for two weeks.

“Nobody’s wanting us to come in,” said Cheryl.

Cheryl said her 29-year-old daughter had a compromised immune system due to battling cancer, and she believed after a family trip to Tennessee and Georgia they may have contracted Coronavirus.

"My daughter has gotten sick... (coughs) and neither one of us can shake this," claimed Cheryl.

Her daughter has been running a fever, suffering from weakness and congestion. Cheryl said they went to their primary care doctor who sent them to the emergency room.

"The hospitals don't want her to come in there, they tell her to call the health department and the health department says they don't have no testing," Cheryl claimed.

State Health Officer Dr. Scott Harris said the state does have test kits that are sent to local satellite offices. He said to get tested you have to call your primary doctor first.

"We consult with that physician or that provider to make sure the patient an appropriate candidate for testing and we talk the provider through how to get the test done," Dr. Harris explained.

Criteria like running a fever, cough, travel to infected regions, or contact with a confirmed infected person must be met before the state will test.

We're told in the hours before we spoke to Cheryl, commercial labs had also rolled out test kits, making it a bit easier to get tested.

Cheryl said she's going to keep trying to find a doctor who will help.

“We’ve been trying to cope with it ourselves, but my daughter keeps getting sicker and sicker,” said Cheryl.

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