MOUNT VERNON – After one day of community testing in Mount Vernon, Knox Public Health still has plenty of COVID-19 test kits available, spokeswoman Pam Palm said Wednesday.
The health department announced last week that it planned to test 300 residents for the novel coronavirus this Wednesday-Friday. Anyone 18 years or older with viable transportation is eligible to participate in the drive-thru testing, which is being conducted in the Knox Public Health parking lot at 11660 Upper Gilchrist Rd.
Both symptomatic and asymptomatic residents are eligible to receive a free test, but they must call 740-399-8014 to schedule an appointment.
Knox Public Health administered 72 tests on Wednesday, Palm said. The health department had planned to administer 100 tests per day, pending community participation. Palm said KPH has 50 test appointments scheduled for Thursday and 25 scheduled for Friday, meaning there is still plenty of opportunity for interested residents to receive a test if they wish.
By testing symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals, the health department is hoping to get a better sense of where the virus is hidden in Knox County and how prevalent it is. Those who test positive will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days, and KPH will communicate regularly with family members and other close contacts to monitor symptoms.
These measures are meant to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has killed 2,080 Ohioans and hospitalized 6,251 since early March.
KPH has spent the last three months accumulating test kits from a variety of sources, including the Ohio Department of Health and Knox Community Hospital, in order to expand testing capacity locally. Its community testing initiative this week is unprecedented in scale (it will nearly double the number of tests conducted in Knox County to date) and structure (previously, residents had to meet certain criteria to be tested).
In order to receive a drive-thru test this week, here is the process Knox County residents must follow:
- Call the health department at 740-399-8014. Participants will receive a preliminary health screening, as well as information on the testing process. They will be given a specific time to show up.
- Enter the KPH parking lot at the designated appointment time. At the parking lot entrance, health department officials will make sure the participant’s name is on the list.
- Once that’s confirmed, participants will be asked to pull around to the east side of the parking lot, where they will sign paperwork confirming basic medical information and their consent to be tested.
- They’ll then pull around to the north side of the parking lot, where registered nurses will perform a simple swab test. Participants will remain in their vehicle while the test takes place. The swab will be placed in a vial, stored in a freezer, and eventually sent to a lab for testing.
- Knox Public Health will call each patient individually once it receives their test results. The health department will call regardless of the outcome – positive or negative – to answer questions and explain next steps.
The nurses administering tests Wednesday said one of the misconceptions about the testing process is that it will take “all day.” From the time a patient pulls into the parking lot to the time they leave, most appointments only take around 10 minutes, registered nurse Carol Green said.
“I think they’re not realizing, it’s not gonna be an all-day thing. We can have you in and out quick,” Green said. “Once you’ve registered and went through all the steps, they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s it?’”
Another misconception, nurses said, deals with the actual test itself. Only symptomatic patients, or those serving on the front lines (healthcare workers, first responders, etc.) will receive the long, intrusive nasal swab. Asymptomatic patients will receive a swab the size of a Q-Tip; nurses will lightly sweep the inside of each nostril to complete the test.
“We try to tell people, it’s like a bug crawling in your nose,” Green said. “It’s not like we’re gonna go up there and dig for gold or something.”
Most of the patients KPH tested on Wednesday were older, registered nurse Jessica Parker said, ages 60 and up. There has been a mix of men and women; oftentimes, Parker noted, couples will get tested together.
Most of the patients so far have not been symptomatic, registered nurse Jenn Bowhman added, “they just wanted to be tested.”
Those who are asymptomatic and are not a healthcare worker/first responder will have their tests shipped to LabCorp, a private lab handling diagnostic testing. Those results should return in three to five days, registered nurse Natasha Lester said.
Those who are symptomatic or a healthcare worker/first responder will have their tests shipped to the Ohio Department of Health, which will be able to turn the results around in 24-48 hours.
Palm said the phone lines at Knox Public Health “rang off the hook” on Monday with people wanting to schedule tests. Interest from residents slowed on Tuesday, she said, but is expected to persist as the week goes on.
If KPH does not administer all of its available tests this week, it will use the leftover kits to test symptomatic patients on an individual basis. The health department plans to continue collecting testing kits in order to increase local testing capacity.
As of Wednesday, Knox County had 25 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and four probable cases. One man, 90-year-old David Waddell from Mount Vernon, has died from the virus. The health department is currently monitoring seven active cases in Knox County.
