The weird delay has been discussed in at least 20 or 30 of the posts above. It’s definitely frustrating. 
The new Alexa skill is broken for some people, but breaks in different ways at different times.
It’s totally unpredictable whether it will break for you and how it will break.
The following problems can occur with either virtual devices or physical sensors. The DTH that you are using does not matter.
-
it might be that the device status will update in both the smartthings app and the Alexa app, but the routine will never trigger.
-
it might be that the device status will update in both the smartthings app and the Alexa app, but the routine will process with a delay, sometimes a very prolonged delay.
-
it might be that the device status will update in the smartthings app but not the Alexa app.
-
it might be that it will be broken for a while, then it will start working again, and then it will break again. Whether you do anything or not.
-
The routine may run multiple times, either whether with a delay or without. This is particularly noticeable with announcements.
-
Separately, and for a different reason, EchoSpeaks no longer works. If you have been using that, see the author’s thread for discussion of alternatives.
https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-echo-speaks-v3-actions/173073/1336
It’s all very frustrating, it’s all very unpredictable. 
All that we know is that smartthings is aware of the problem and they are working on fixing it. And that there is nothing that we as customers can do to fix it. We just have to be patient until a fix is officially announced in this thread.
Or don’t be patient and move on to other methods such as using a sensor from a different platform or using the voice monkey skill described upthread.