As Houston-area coronavirus cases rise in number, one Fort Bend County family got caught in testing confusion.

“We were thrown for a loop for an entire week testing (my grandfather’s) symptoms for coronavirus and results coming back negative, then positive and then negative again every couple of days,” said a 30-year-old Fort Bend County woman who asked to not be identified.

On Friday, her 80-year-old grandfather officially tested positive for coronavirus by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is home now and being cared for by the woman’s mother, aunt and uncle. The entire family is under self-quarantine and are making a list of everyone who has had contact with the man to give to the State Department for epidemiological purposes.

The diagnosis came seven days after he was brought to a 24-hour emergency hospital in Sugar Land for dehydration and shortness of breath. It was the emergency room workers who believed the man exhibited coronavirus symptoms.

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According to the granddaughter, he was brought by ambulance to Houston Methodist in Sugar Land on March 6, and tests showed that he had atypical pneumonia, she said.

Several tests were run and they were told that he did not have COVID-19, the new coronavirus. He was admitted and prescribed antibiotics for the pneumonia. She does not know if her grandfather was tested specifically for coronavirus that day.

From the beginning, the family was upfront about his international travel, she said. He returned to the United States from overseas on Feb. 20.

“In our minds, we think that maybe it was inappropriate they didn’t do the (coronavirus) test right away if they were aware of the travel,” she said in a phone interview. “The second thing is that a couple staff members were being so vague and not forthcoming with information even though we were all alarmed.”

In an email to the Chronicle, a Houston Methodist spokesperson said they do not comment on individual patient cases per federal law.

On March 8, hospital staff told the family that he wasn’t tested for coronavirus initially and would need to be moved to an isolated ward, tested and have samples sent to the CDC for additional testing. Samples are taken via nasal swab, according to Dr. Umair A. Shah, executive director of Harris County Public Health.

It wasn’t until March 10 that Methodist told the family that the man was “decidedly positive” for coronavirus, and staff was waiting confirmation from the CDC. The family was told to “prepare for the worst” since he is 80-years-old.

Coronavirus has shown to be very dangerous for people over the age of 60.

The following day, more samples were taken by hospital staff because the CDC’s results were “inconclusive,” the granddaughter said. On March 12, the family was told by Methodist that his results came back negative for coronavirus, and the man was discharged.

But then on Friday, March 13, the CDC called the family with news that the man was actually positive for coronavirus.

“My grandfather is now home, and all of us are at home with him without masks and gloves,” the woman wrote on Twitter. “He’s certainly happy to be home and ‘free of coronavirus.’ And guess what, CDC just called us and told us that he is POSITIVE for the virus.”

Family members, including the granddaughter, were instructed by CDC to get tested if they had any symptoms. Everyone is quarantined and has been monitoring their symptoms for a few days. One uncle who is a smoker paid extra for testing and a lung X-ray since has additional risk factors, she said.

And the 80-year-old is doing well despite the diagnosis. He is being cared for by his family, who are taking precautions when feeding him and helping him walk.

“He’s on meds for his lungs, he’s really happy to be home, and we’re confident he’s going to recover,” she wrote.

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Two new cases in Brazoria County Saturday bring the region’s total to 25, including 10 in Harris County.

At a teleconferenced-coronavirus panel hosted by The Health Museum, Dr. Scott C. Weaver said a major challenge in monitoring the outbreak is that health officials are “watching in the rear view mirror.”

Weaver is the director of the Institute for Human Infections and Immunity and scientific director of the Galveston National Laboratory.

“Because of delays in the incubation period for one week, delays in testing people who become symptomatic, we’re always a little behind in keeping up with the spread of the outbreak,” Weaver said. “That means when there’s community transmission, we find out too late to try to stop the community spread.”

There are possibilities of false negatives in coronavirus testing, Shah said. It’s important for there to be an evaluation period at home before people who are exhibiting symptoms go to hospitals or doctors for testing.

The Fort Bend County family is grateful for the health care system, but wish they could have had more definitive answers earlier.

“I think it was okay to send him home. It would have been more ideal to wait until they had the confirmation from the CDC before telling us his result was negative because we weren’t as cautious that full day,” she said. “But sending him home to heal was fine because he’s doing a lot better.”

julie.garcia@chron.com

Twitter.com/reporterjulie

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