diff --git a/src/maltest/maltest.py b/src/maltest/maltest.py
index 06559bd..52b22ea 100755
--- a/src/maltest/maltest.py
+++ b/src/maltest/maltest.py
@@ -226,6 +226,16 @@ def main():
         default=True,
         help=f'Start Malcolm once provisioning is complete (default true)',
     )
+    configArgGroup.add_argument(
+        '--stay-up',
+        dest='stayUp',
+        type=mmguero.str2bool,
+        nargs='?',
+        metavar="true|false",
+        const=True,
+        default=False,
+        help=f'Stay running until CTRL+C or SIGKILL is received',
+    )
     configArgGroup.add_argument(
         '--sleep',
         dest='postInitSleep',
@@ -350,7 +360,7 @@ def main():
                     exitCode = pytest.main(list(mmguero.Flatten(['-p', 'no:cacheprovider', args.testPath, extraArgs])))
 
             # if we started Malcolm, sleep until instructed
-            if args.startMalcolm:
+            if args.stayUp:
                 malcolmVm.WaitForShutdown()
 
     finally:
diff --git a/src/maltest/utils.py b/src/maltest/utils.py
index 79c9713..b4c8f37 100644
--- a/src/maltest/utils.py
+++ b/src/maltest/utils.py
@@ -363,7 +363,6 @@ def WaitForLastEventTime(
             if not self.apiSession:
                 self.apiSession = requests.Session()
 
-            now = datetime.now(timezone.utc)
             timeoutEnd = time.time() + MALCOLM_LAST_INGEST_AGE_SECONDS_TIMEOUT
             while (result == False) and (ShuttingDown[0] == False) and (time.time() < timeoutEnd):
                 try:
@@ -378,15 +377,17 @@ def WaitForLastEventTime(
                     dataSourceStats = response.json()
                     self.logger.debug(json.dumps(dataSourceStats))
                 except Exception as e:
-                    self.logger.warning(f"Error \"{e}\" waiting for Malcolm to become ready")
+                    self.logger.warning(f"Error \"{e}\" getting ingest statistics")
                     dataSourceStats = {}
 
                 if (
                     isinstance(dataSourceStats, dict)
                     and dataSourceStats
                     and all(
-                        (now - datetime.fromisoformat(timestamp)).total_seconds()
-                        > MALCOLM_LAST_INGEST_AGE_SECONDS_THRESHOLD
+                        (
+                            (datetime.now(timezone.utc) - datetime.fromisoformat(timestamp)).total_seconds()
+                            > MALCOLM_LAST_INGEST_AGE_SECONDS_THRESHOLD
+                        )
                         for timestamp in dataSourceStats.values()
                     )
                 ):