What’s it like getting tested for coronavirus? An inside look from Columbus drive-thru
Ten seconds.
That’s about the amount of time it takes for the long, bendy plastic swab to go through your nose and hit the back of your throat. The nurses take the sample, and the patient drives away only to wait about 72 hours to find out if they have the novel coronavirus.
Behind the Georgia Department of Public Health’s West Central Health District building at 2100 Comer Avenue in Columbus is the only state-run, drive-through sample collection site in an area covering Chattahoochee, Clay, Crisp, Dooly, Harris, Macon, Marion, Muscogee, Quitman, Randolph, Schley, Stewart, Sumter, Talbot, Taylor and Webster counties.
About 17 people were swabbed for the novel coronavirus Friday. Only one case has been confirmed in Muscogee County thus far. Four have been confirmed in the 16 county area covered by this health district as of noon Saturday.
The district began testing its first patients Wednesday, and as of Friday afternoon, had tested about 50 people, said nurse Mary Tien. People are coming from all over the district, and none of those tested at the site have received their results yet, health officials said.
Over the course of three days, maintaining a stock of test supplies has been difficult. On Thursday, the district ran out of its initial materials. Confusion over whether more supplies would come Friday ended when 25 state-provided Quest sets and 25 LabCorp sets arrived.
The Georgia Public Health Laboratory and private labs have conducted a total of 3,064 COVID-19 tests statewide as of noon March 21. The state has tested 772 people. Private labs have tested 2,292, state officials said.
“We’re still dealing with a limited supply,” Tien said.
Pamela Kirkland, spokesperson for the West Central Health District, said the department expects another delivery Monday, but it’s hard to know exactly how many sets are coming until they arrive.
The collection site is large and mostly empty. It’s open from about 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Law enforcement and medical professionals sit in chairs under two white canopies. Orange cones line the path to the entrance from the road.
Though a few people rode by to ask questions, medical officials recommend you call the district’s coronavirus hotline at 1-855-962-0955 or your primary care doctor to be screened for symptoms before going to a collection site.
“We’re mostly just educating people. ...There’s a lot of confusion and a lot of misinformation out there,” Tien said.
Nurses like Tien greet drivers who pull up to the site for an initial screening. Some are turned away here because they have mild symptoms or don’t match certain testing criteria.
Health officials are prioritizing testing for people most vulnerable to COVID-19 and the individuals responsible for caring for them such as the elderly, those with compromised immune systems and medical professionals.
Some are sent along to the triage station a short drive from the entrance. Patients within a “gray area” of testing criteria are sent there for a second round of questioning. If the healthcare workers think a person needs to be tested, they are sent to the back half of the lot where the samples are collected.
Drivers pull through a covered area and don’t get out of their cars. Two nurses clad in scrubs, gloves, masks and face shields work to get the sample. The long, bendy, white plastic swab is able to break in two pieces to fit in a vial, and the swab is stored in a solution.
The vial containing the sample is frozen and sent to either the Georgia Public Health Laboratory or private labs for testing.
In a 30-minute period Friday afternoon, several cars drove up and one woman had a sample taken for a test.
The collection site is one of three drive-throughs in the city. MercyMed on 2nd Avenue is doing testing in partnership with the West Central Health District. The third site is run by Piedmont Healthcare, which also has three other test sites across the state.
MercyMed has collected 39 samples since Monday, and samples are collected only after making an appointment through the health district.
Piedmont did not disclose how many total COVID-19 samples it has taken here, but those wishing to be tested will be screened over the phone. Their hotline is 1-866-460-1119, and you must have an appointment. Piedmont began collecting samples Wednesday.
However, those three testing sites won’t be enough, Kirkland said. Sample collection capacity is still limited. Kirkland recommends that those with symptoms who don’t meet testing criteria quarantine for 14 days.
State health officials have previously said that primary care doctors are able to collect COVID-19 samples and send them to private labs for testing. But Kirkland is unsure if that is happening in the Columbus area. Health officials recommend calling those facilities to see if they can collect samples.
“I hope they are starting to,” Kirkland said. “(Only three sites) can’t handle it.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2020 at 5:00 AM.