UPDATE: Minneapolis woman tests negative for COVID-19

UPDATE:

A Minneapolis woman has told KSTP that she has learned her tests for COVID-19 have returned negative.

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A Minneapolis woman said she’s growing frustrated as she continues to wait for the Minnesota Department of Health to return her test results for COVID-19.

The woman, whose identity KSTP is protecting, said she was seen by physicians at Hennepin County Medical Center last Thursday and gave a blood sample to the MDH to be tested for COVID-19, the disease associated with exposure to the novel coronavirus.

The woman said she had recently returned from Italy. She began to develop minor flu-like symptoms and went to a local medical clinic. She said she was then referred to HCMC, which then tested her for COVID-19.

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The woman said HCMC directed her to self-quarantine, along with family members, until her test results came back from MDH. She said HCMC told her that should be the next day — which would have been Friday.

"But I talked with MCMC and MDH Friday, Saturday and Sunday," the woman said. "And so far, I have not been given an answer as to whether I have tested positive for COVID-19 or not."

The woman said the wait is frustrating, but a spokesperson for MDH told KSTP there is no backlog of testing for COVID-19 and that testing is being done in almost "real time."

Read KSTP’s complete coronavirus coverage here

MDH said negative results are given to the patient’s health-care provider who then must notify the patient and only "positive COVID-19 results" are then notified immediately.

So far, MDH said, as of Sunday night, the state had tested 80 people, and only two have tested positive for COVID-19.