Coronavirus: Mary Lou McDonald describes 'distressing' 16-day wait for test results

Mary Lou McDonald has said waiting 16 days for her Covid- 19 test results was "distressing" leaving her "operating in the dark" while very ill.

An asthma sufferer, the Sinn Féin president, had been tested on March 28 after showing signs of a "head cold", and became "incredibly ill" in the days after, waiting over two weeks for her result, by which time she had also contracted a viral pleurisy in her lung.

"I feel very lucky to have come through the whole thing," she said.

"I was tested March 28, and became very sick quite quickly then appeared to get better, then got a pleurisy, which was the nice goodbye of the virus, before I received my results, 16 days after it was done.

It totally floored me, every part of me hurt, from my eye sockets to the tips of my fingers, I had no energy, I couldn't sustain a conversation, which as you can imagine for me, is hell.

"The issue with the test taking so long is if the result is delayed, it undermines the contact tracing," she said.

"It's unacceptable, it causes great distress to put it mildly.

"You find yourself in the position where you're very sick, you suspect it is Covid-19, but you don't know and the whole strategy for dealing with the virus is to test, isolate and trace and widely and effectively.

"It seems now the backlog is clear, I hope that is the case, the government need to get their act together in terms of testing regime.

This virus and all the uncertainty, isn't a short term thing, and the only way we can avoid needless deaths is a comprehensive testing system, and as we speak we don't have that.

Ms McDonald says she became increasingly distressed without her test results after developing another condition, which could not be fully confirmed without her Coronavirus diagnosis.

"When the pleurisy kicked in, which was a post-viral secondary complication, I still didn't have my results and when that happened I did say to myself: 'What's happening here?'

"Even in terms of my GP medically figuring what had happened, it was only when I got the results of the test he could put the pieces together."

The Sinn Féin leader says she was aware of speculation and criticism that she had not been seen in public for a number of days and missed two Dáil sessions due to her ill health.

"I saw all of that; 'Where's Mary Lou?'," she said.

"You are conscious of that kind of speculation, but you can't come out and say it unless you have a result.

My bigger concern is that people are left very much in the dark, the doctor gives the best advice they can, but you're operating with incomplete information, and more importantly, cannot start the contact tracing.

She has warned against complacency in the fight against Covid-19, and has encouraged everyone to continue to follow the social distancing rules.

"I know what I had on the spectrum would be mild, but people shouldn't have a complacent feeling about this, that it'll come and go, that wasn't my experience," she said.

"You don't have to be over 70, younger people get it too, we were very careful, my children's school was shut ahead of the curve in quarantine, and I have no idea how I got it, it will forever be a mystery.

"I feel much better now, I'm delighted to be back at work and off medication and feel well again," she said.