BUFFALO, N.Y. —
There's been frustration about a lack of testing from lawmakers and health care providers.
2 On Your Side spoke to one person from Western New Yorker who has been dealing with coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, firsthand.
A woman feels she and her husband contracted the virus while on a trip to Jamaica. They returned here to Western New York, and her husband got worse.
She took him to the hospital, where he tested positive. She also had symptoms, and she's frustrated by what she was told.
"They did not test me, although my doctor had requested that they test me," she said. "They said because he had a positive, they were sure that I had it too because of the symptoms I was having. But they did not test me. They sent me home on antibiotics.
"They report every day the amount of people that have it and have been diagnosed. And I don't think those numbers reflect the true story of what's going on. They refuse to test me, so I'm not counted yet. I have the virus too.
"But when there are people that are having symptoms and they feel we do have the disease, if they're not reflecting that in their numbers, the community is not getting a true picture."
2 On Your Side spoke to county officials about their rationale for testing.
"Those individuals who are out in the community, and they're not an essential employee, and they're not hospitalized in the hospital, there is no treatment," Erie County Commissioner of Health Dr. Gale Burstein said.
"There is nothing else we can do with that information.We're recommending that everybody who has symptoms, that they stay in isolation regardless of what they're tested for."
The woman told us her husband has been on a ventilator for the past 10 days.
She remains in isolation at home and has the support of family and friends. But she's obviously still very concerned about the testing process.
