As Hollywood stars, politicians and professional athletes revealed this week that they had been tested for coronavirus — despite not always having a fever or other tell-tale symptoms of COVID-19 — they faced backlash.
With celebrities like Idris Elba and more getting tested, it fueled a perception that the wealthy and famous have been able to jump to the head of the line while others have been turned away or met with long delays.
The concerns over preferential treatment underscored a fundamental truth about inequalities baked into the American health-care system — those with the financial means often have been able to receive a different level of service.
Asked about the issue on Wednesday, President Trump said the well-to-do and well-connected shouldn’t get priority for coronavirus tests, but he conceded that the rich and famous sometimes get perks.
"Perhaps that's been the story of life,” Trump said during a briefing at the White House. “That does happen on occasion. And I've noticed where some people have been tested fairly quickly.”
Among the people who have gotten tests in recent weeks were Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla. Both lawmakers said they had been exposed to someone who tested positive. Their tests came back negative.
Rep. Ben McAdams of Utah, a Democrat, announced Wednesday that he tested positive after experiencing symptoms including a 103-degree fever. Utah health officials said neither McAdams nor anyone else had received special treatment and they were following public health guidelines.
Actor Idris Elba said he didn’t have any symptoms when he announced his positive test on Monday, prompting questions and criticism on social media about why he got a test when he was not symptomatic.
Elba later explained that he was on location, about to start a film, and got tested after a person he was in contact with had tested positive. He said he would have put a lot of people at risk if he had continued working.
This morning I tested positive for Covid 19. I feel ok, I have no symptoms so far but have been isolated since I found out about my possible exposure to the virus. Stay home people and be pragmatic. I will keep you updated on how I’m doingNo panic. pic.twitter.com/Lg7HVMZglZ
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“Quite honestly, my job made me test immediately,” said Elba, best known for his roles on the HBO series “The Wire” and as a detective on the BBC One series “Luther.”
Elba's work situation wasn't unusual. Businesses across the country have been shutting down to prevent employees from exposing themselves to the virus at work. Several cities, including New York, San Francisco and Washington, have ordered bars, restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and other businesses to close to slow the virus' spread.
Elba, 47, told The Associated Press in an email sent through his representative Thursday that he took the test in the United States and was tested by a private doctor through his employer, whom he did not name.
“Everyone should be able to be tested. Period,” he wrote to the AP.
Elba said people not knowing if they were infected was a problem because they could spread the virus further. He encouraged people to stay home until more tests became available.
In addition, reality star Ali Fedotowsky-Manno, who appeared on ABC's “The Bachelorette,” found herself on the defensive after announcing in a post on Instagram on Sunday that she had been tested at a clinic in Los Angeles.
She said she had shortness of breath and an X-ray that showed white spots on her lungs, and what she said were “all the symptoms of the virus, except for a fever.”
Ali Fedotowsky-Manno and Idris Elba were among the figures who revealed they were tested. (Getty, Reuters, File)
She said she went to a clinic called Mend, which she said was “one of the only places that will do the test if you don’t have a fever.”
And, in an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Fedotowsky-Manno said she had seen commentary accusing her of special treatment. She denied the accusation, saying she chose the clinic closest to her house. She checked in under her married name and only heard the clinic would give tests to people without a fever from someone else in the waiting room after she was already there.
“Nobody knew who I was at that urgent care. I went to urgent care like anybody could,” she explained.
The CEO of Mend did not return emails seeking comment from The Associated Press, but the clinic’s website showed it charged $195 for a home visit to collect swabs for COVID-19 tests, with Quest then billing a patient's insurance to process the samples.
“We would expect physicians to follow CDC clinical criteria,” Quest spokeswoman Wendy Bost said. “Our materials about the test are clear on this point.” The company declined to provide a figure to The Associated Press for what it charges for its COVID-19 test.
On Wednesday, Fedotowsky-Manno, 35, said she was still waiting for her results, five days after getting tested. She said she understands why people are upset over testing.
“I think it’s crazy that everybody can’t get tested,” she said. “It’s absolutely absurd."
Also on Wednesday, the Brooklyn Nets announced the entire NBA team was tested last week upon returning from San Francisco after a game against the Golden State Warriors. Team officials said they found a private lab to do the work, and on Tuesday announced that four of its players were positive for the virus, including Kevin Durant.
Even though public health resources were not used, it raised the ire of many, including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
“We wish them a speedy recovery,” the mayor, a Democrat, tweeted. “But, with all due respect, an entire NBA team should NOT get tested for COVID-19 while there are critically ill patients waiting to be tested. Tests should not be for the wealthy, but for the sick.”
We wish them a speedy recovery. But, with all due respect, an entire NBA team should NOT get tested for COVID-19 while there are critically ill patients waiting to be tested.
Tests should not be for the wealthy, but for the sick. twitter.com/cbsnews/status…
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Public frustrations over the difficulties getting tested for the new virus have been building since the first U.S. case was confirmed Jan. 20. Early missteps with test kits developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], coupled with strict government criteria about who qualified for screening, have led to widespread reports of people struggling to get tested. Even those who manage to get successfully swabbed often report long delays in getting the results back due to lengthy backlogs at government-run labs.
Seeking to break the logjam, the federal Food and Drug Administration announced earlier this month it would allow major private diagnostic lab companies to begin rolling out new COVID-19 tests and relaxed regulations typically required before new tests can be brought to market.
Over the last two weeks, that has led to a surge in testing available from private doctors and labs not bound by CDC’s criteria for which patients should be prioritized for testing, such as those with fever and difficulty breathing who have recently traveled to affected countries overseas, or those who have had close contact with someone confirmed to have had the virus.
LabCorp, a major lab testing company, began providing COVID-19 test on March 5. Quest Diagnostics, another major national provider, followed suit on March 9.
In a statement to The Associated Press, LabCorp said its COVID-19 test is available on the order of any physician or other authorized healthcare provider anywhere in the United States. The company said it expects to be performing more than 10,000 tests per day by the end of this week, ramping up to 20,000 tests per day by the end of this month.
By comparison, the CDC and other public health labs conducted about 30,000 tests in the eight weeks since the pandemic arrived in the U.S., according to data compiled by researchers at Johns Hopkins University.
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