UPDATE: On Saturday, Garland said he has tested positive. He is hosting an "AMA" (ask me anything) on Reddit. Click here for the link.
Original story continues below:
SALT LAKE CITY — A man who lives in Herriman and was exposed to COVID-19 last week in Colorado says he is joining the increasing number of people who are frustrated with the disease's testing process.
Casey Garland said he got an email notifying him he was exposed to the novel coronavirus on a business trip last week in Vail, Colorado.
The summit only had 20-30 people in attendance, he said, but he has no idea who was infected.
"We spent Thursday through Sunday together having a great time out in Vail," Garland said. "People had flown in from Chicago, Atlanta, New York, North Carolina, and then me from Salt Lake."
Since learning of his exposure, Garland said he thought it would be a good idea to be tested especially because he had already begun to experience symptoms related to COVID-19.
"I’m the last guy to go to the hospital for something that might be going wrong with myself. For this? I knew that the right thing to do would be to get checked out," Garland said. "It took me 3.5 hours to find out what I need to do to go get tested."
Garland said he had to navigate through a complicated maze of telephone recordings, dropped calls, app downloads, and video conferences before he was finally able to get tested.
He said he now fears there may be more undocumented cases of COVID-19 throughlout the United States because of the lack of testing.
"The technology that was available didn’t work, and then the amount of people I had to talk to just to get the information I needed was absurd," Garland said. "I can't imagine what it will look like a week from now... I don't know if it's something worth panicking over, but I think people should be cautious."
Although Garland lives in Herriman, he spoke to FOX 13 via Skype in his basement because of his decision to self-quarantine.
Over the past few days, he has become very familiar with video conferences with doctors, his work, and now the media.
Garland said he is not particularly concerned about his own health, but he has decided to stay quarantined especially for the sake of his wife and two-year-old son.
He had nothing but compliments for the staff who performed the test quickly and efficiently. He said he just wishes the process to set up that visit could have been more streamlined.
Doctors told Garland the results of his test will likely be available on Friday night or Saturday.
"My fever’s gone down a couple points of a degree. I’m in the 99s now, so that’s good news!" Garland said.
Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) released a statement addressing his concerns with COVID-19 testing across the country.
"Our system has just not been up to snuff. I think a lot of people have been frustrated by it, and I'm one of them," Romney said.
"I don’t know who is to blame, but I just know that this should be a wakeup call," Garland said.
