Complaints continue over at-home COVID-19 tests

CityNews has received more complaints about the company hired by the government to administer at-home COVID tests. One man says a problem with his test forced him to extend his quarantine after travelling internationally.

“They demand from us to treat it seriously. I expect the company which works for the government to treat it seriously as well,” said Andrew Miecznikowski.

Miecznikowski was forced into quarantine in August after visiting Poland to care for his mother, who was ill.

He was tested at Pearson airport and was then instructed to take a test at home eight days later, which he did online through Switch Health.

“The nurse asked me to keep it in the fridge before it was to be picked up for delivery,” Miecznikowski said. “I did the test on Thursday. Friday they picked it up and I tracked the package. They kept it in a warehouse until Sunday evening. So basically for two days it sat there and the temperature outside was 30 degrees Celsius.”

Miecznikowski received a notice that his test was damaged and he had to take a new one. He says the delay forced him to stay in quarantine longer than the mandatory 14 days. He worries his test was damaged by the heat during delivery.

“I said to the driver ‘can you keep it cool?’ He said, ‘well, sir, I’m just dropping this in my truck and I’m pretty sure it’s going to reach the outside temperature within 20 minutes.’ There are two possibilities. It was smashed somewhere and damaged or it was basically damaged by the outside temperature,” Miecznikowski explained.

His complaint follows several others on social media in which people have been calling out Switch Health for months. Some people are upset over delays connecting to a nurse to take the test online; others say their tests are not being delivered on time.

Switch Health is a Toronto company contracted by Health Canada to perform the tests, securing a $100 million contract.

In a statement, a Switch Health spokesperson said heat was likely not a factor. “As of a few months ago, we use a viral transport media that can maintain heat up to 64 degrees Celsius and be good for 14 days unrefrigerated,” said Jordan Paquet, Vice President of Public Affairs for Switch Health.

A Purolator spokesperson also said they’ve had no other complaints about overheated tests.

Paquet added it’s very rare for tests to come back damaged but it can happen for a variety of reasons.

“Many times it ends up being a mislabeling issue on the part of the traveller, but other times it could be a leak, etc.”

Miecznikowski understands mistakes happen but says when they do it shouldn’t mean people like him have to extend their quarantine.

“If they cannot comply with the time frame, that’s their fault,” he said. “I even offered to have my daughter hand deliver the test to their lab but was told that could not happen. I just don’t want anybody else to have to go through this.”