BUFFALO, N.Y. — “Difficulty breathing began last Thursday.”
Since then, a fever has come and gone for Nicki Fernandez, but the breathing difficulty has lingered.
Efforts by her and her doctor to get a COVID-19 test have not been successful, and Fernandez on Friday was scheduled to for a pre-op consultation prior to scheduled surgery for a painful meniscus tear in her knee.
“They told me not to come until I can prove that I don't have coronavirus," Fernandez said. "So, now I can’t have the surgery which I’ve been waiting for for weeks.
"I’m in pain every day. I can’t be near my family. I can’t get things I need from work all because I can’t get tested. I might not have it, but I’m not gonna know if I can’t get the test.”
Fernandez is now forced to wait it out, in pain, with only her dog to keep her company.
State Senator Tim Kennedy says his office has fielded lots of calls of people scrambling to find access to testing.
“We are messaging appropriately across the state as fast as we can get these tests to our local community here in Erie County and across the state and again across the nation. We have to do it. It’s absolutely imperative,” Kennedy said.
The State Senator from Buffalo called the shortage of COVID-19 testing materials a blunder by the Trump administration. Similarly, fellow Democrat Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz blames the White House for the shortage.
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