"shortage of coronavirus tests in Wisconsin & even health care workers are having a hard time gett

There is a shortage of coronavirus tests in Wisconsin, and even health care workers are having a hard time getting one
https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/2020/03/17/covid-19-test-shortage-how-many-wisconsin-coronavirus-cases-unknown-people-have-milwaukee/5062765002/


Rory Linnane, Matt Piper and Maria Perez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Published 11:31 a.m. CT March 17, 2020 | Updated 7:52 p.m. CT March 17, 2020

Medical staff check in patients at the coronavirus testing drive-through tent at the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Hospital in Pleasant Prairie on Tuesday.Buy Photo

Medical staff check in patients at the coronavirus testing drive-through tent at the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin Hospital in Pleasant Prairie on Tuesday. (Photo: Angela Peterson / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

As coronavirus threatens to overwhelm the state’s health system, many Wisconsin residents told the Journal Sentinel they have not been able to get tested despite having concerning symptoms — fever, coughing and sometimes shortness of breath.

Even health care workers with symptoms are struggling to get tested. Their experiences underscore the uncertainty of how widespread COVID-19 already is in Wisconsin.

Patients say they’ve been told there aren’t enough tests. They say they've been told they don't qualify because they haven't traveled abroad, or they aren't in a population at high risk for needing a ventilator or having other serious health consequences.

With a shortage in critical testing supplies, the state's public lab in Madison drew a new line Sunday night, asking clinicians to restrict testing to "those where the results would make a significant impact on (patient) care."

The continuing shortage comes more than a week after President Donald Trump told reporters "anybody that wants a test can get a test." The first cases of coronavirus emerged late last year in China.