Almost 200 People Get Tested For COVID-19 At State-Sponsored Clinic
July 16, 2020 at 2:14 a.m.
Almost 200 People Get Tested For COVID-19 At State-Sponsored Clinic
By David [email protected]
Speaking at the weekly coronavirus press conference at City Hall, he said, “It was a very quick situation. We were notified by midday Monday that they would be coming, and I asked when, and they said tomorrow! So, all good. I said, ‘Great! Come. We’ll find you a spot.’ And I think we’re pretty happy with the way the first day went.”
Testing is through Saturday this week and then Tuesday through Saturday next week. It’s offered 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day at Central Park, 119 E. Canal St., Warsaw, in the west parking lot. Drive-thru clinics are open to anyone older than 12 years old who live or work in Indiana. Insurance is not required, and Spanish translators are available.
“Not much is required, other than you’re asked to stay patient, remain in your car. Again, the testing is free. They’ll ask for a phone number and email so they can contact you with the results,” Thallemer said.
He said people are certainly taking advantage of the testing and 177 is a “pretty significant number of tests on the first day.”
Thallemer then reminded everyone that the city and county are offering free testing to county residents, supported by CARES Act funding, at the three MedStat locations – Nappanee, Syracuse and Warsaw. Register online at medstatonline.com.
He also pointed out there is a rapid testing option, but it is not free, at Physicians Urgent Care.
“So in between those three options, I think we’ve got a pretty significant amount of testing right now in the county,” Thallemer said. Once schools reopen, he said testing will probably become even more important. “So, the idea here is that we try to utilize this testing, try to take advantage of it and hopefully keep the state testing site here if we can. So we’ll see how this goes.”
Getting testing results back timely is one of the challenges of testing, he acknowledged, with the average time being five days. He said the state testing site told him their results are coming back within three to five days. MedStat is five to seven days.
He continued to ask everyone to wear face masks at indoor and outdoor public spaces where socially distancing is a challenge.
“It’s the one thing we can do, and while again there’s no mandate in our county, I think as the numbers ramp up, this becomes an even more critical conversation,” Thallemer said.
The Kosciusko County Health Department (KCHD) reported it received a total of 46 new cases between noon Wednesday, July 8 and noon Wednesday, July 15. This gives Kosciusko County a total of 610 positive cases and four deaths.
KCHD Public Health Officer Dr. William Remington said the county’s case count since March continues to grow at a steady rate.
“Over the last six to eight weeks, we are averaging less than 100 new cases per week. We have not seen explosive growth, which I am most thankful for, but our cases aren’t going to zero. There was a very small growth in numbers actually for the last seven days and I would hope that continues, but we’ll hold our breath on that until we see the results of expansion of testing that is unfolding before us with the State Department of Health drive-thru testing. It’s a very efficient way to get a lot of tests to the community with a very low barrier. And we’ll see what they found,” Remington said.
He hasn’t seen any metrics that would drive the county to mandate people wear face masks, nor to take an independent step backward from Gov. Eric Holcomb’s state reopening plan. Wednesday afternoon Holcomb announced the state would remain at Phase 4.5 for another two weeks because of an increasing number of coronavirus cases across the state.
“Those remain on the table. We can do those if we feel the need. I personally do not feel our numbers are pushing us to do that at this time,” Remington stated.
He echoed Thallemer’s sentiments that masks are “very important” and people should wear them in public settings where they can’t socially separate. In most commercial settings and retail businesses, he asked people to “please wear a mask” as that is a gracious thing to do for people working in the stores. On Wednesday, Walmart and Kroger announced they will require all customers at all of their locations to wear masks, beginning next week.
“Avoid congregating settings indoors as best as you can. Think twice, particularly if you are ill or frail or elderly, before attending a large outdoor event,” Remington said, reminding people to practice frequent hand washing and not to let down their guard.
Testing needs to expand if things are going to continue to open back up, he said. “There is no prevailing public health voice that is speaking contrary to that, so testing is important,” he said, agreeing that it’ll become especially important when schools reopen in the coming weeks. He said he is lobbying with the ISDH for more platforms of testing.
Speaking at the weekly coronavirus press conference at City Hall, he said, “It was a very quick situation. We were notified by midday Monday that they would be coming, and I asked when, and they said tomorrow! So, all good. I said, ‘Great! Come. We’ll find you a spot.’ And I think we’re pretty happy with the way the first day went.”
Testing is through Saturday this week and then Tuesday through Saturday next week. It’s offered 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day at Central Park, 119 E. Canal St., Warsaw, in the west parking lot. Drive-thru clinics are open to anyone older than 12 years old who live or work in Indiana. Insurance is not required, and Spanish translators are available.
“Not much is required, other than you’re asked to stay patient, remain in your car. Again, the testing is free. They’ll ask for a phone number and email so they can contact you with the results,” Thallemer said.
He said people are certainly taking advantage of the testing and 177 is a “pretty significant number of tests on the first day.”
Thallemer then reminded everyone that the city and county are offering free testing to county residents, supported by CARES Act funding, at the three MedStat locations – Nappanee, Syracuse and Warsaw. Register online at medstatonline.com.
He also pointed out there is a rapid testing option, but it is not free, at Physicians Urgent Care.
“So in between those three options, I think we’ve got a pretty significant amount of testing right now in the county,” Thallemer said. Once schools reopen, he said testing will probably become even more important. “So, the idea here is that we try to utilize this testing, try to take advantage of it and hopefully keep the state testing site here if we can. So we’ll see how this goes.”
Getting testing results back timely is one of the challenges of testing, he acknowledged, with the average time being five days. He said the state testing site told him their results are coming back within three to five days. MedStat is five to seven days.
He continued to ask everyone to wear face masks at indoor and outdoor public spaces where socially distancing is a challenge.
“It’s the one thing we can do, and while again there’s no mandate in our county, I think as the numbers ramp up, this becomes an even more critical conversation,” Thallemer said.
The Kosciusko County Health Department (KCHD) reported it received a total of 46 new cases between noon Wednesday, July 8 and noon Wednesday, July 15. This gives Kosciusko County a total of 610 positive cases and four deaths.
KCHD Public Health Officer Dr. William Remington said the county’s case count since March continues to grow at a steady rate.
“Over the last six to eight weeks, we are averaging less than 100 new cases per week. We have not seen explosive growth, which I am most thankful for, but our cases aren’t going to zero. There was a very small growth in numbers actually for the last seven days and I would hope that continues, but we’ll hold our breath on that until we see the results of expansion of testing that is unfolding before us with the State Department of Health drive-thru testing. It’s a very efficient way to get a lot of tests to the community with a very low barrier. And we’ll see what they found,” Remington said.
He hasn’t seen any metrics that would drive the county to mandate people wear face masks, nor to take an independent step backward from Gov. Eric Holcomb’s state reopening plan. Wednesday afternoon Holcomb announced the state would remain at Phase 4.5 for another two weeks because of an increasing number of coronavirus cases across the state.
“Those remain on the table. We can do those if we feel the need. I personally do not feel our numbers are pushing us to do that at this time,” Remington stated.
He echoed Thallemer’s sentiments that masks are “very important” and people should wear them in public settings where they can’t socially separate. In most commercial settings and retail businesses, he asked people to “please wear a mask” as that is a gracious thing to do for people working in the stores. On Wednesday, Walmart and Kroger announced they will require all customers at all of their locations to wear masks, beginning next week.
“Avoid congregating settings indoors as best as you can. Think twice, particularly if you are ill or frail or elderly, before attending a large outdoor event,” Remington said, reminding people to practice frequent hand washing and not to let down their guard.
Testing needs to expand if things are going to continue to open back up, he said. “There is no prevailing public health voice that is speaking contrary to that, so testing is important,” he said, agreeing that it’ll become especially important when schools reopen in the coming weeks. He said he is lobbying with the ISDH for more platforms of testing.
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