About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2020)
6A Weekend Edition - August 1-2, 2020 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com LOCAL Turnaround varies as test demand soars Where and when you get tested, what lab is used can mean difference of days BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com Julie Smith started feeling sinus pressure Saturday, July 11, and developed a deep cough the next day. As the phone lines opened Monday morning, she tried to contact the Department of Pub lic Health to schedule a COVID- 19 test. After being screened for symptoms, she was told there weren’t any openings in Hall County for six days. Smith was able to take a test at an urgent care center instead and got her negative results back three days later. She said she “wanted to make sure if I needed to take any extra precautions,” especially because her daughter has severe asthma. Jo Brewer, executive direc tor of Northeast Georgia Medi cal Center’s laboratory services, said the health system is now handling more than 1,000 tests per day and has divided the testing demand to different labs. One lab in Alpharetta is aver aging a 24-hour turnaround times for Northeast Georgia Health System’s inpatient population, which is closely monitored by the system. “They have to have it at that quick of a turnaround time because we use that for preoper ative purposes, but it’s also all the admissions from the emergency room, for all of the emergency room non-admitted patients and any testing that is ordered in- house all goes to this one labo ratory that has about a 24-hour (turnaround time),” Brewer said. The longest turnaround time, about four days, is for outpatient tests, she said. Brewer said the health system converted much of its in-house test specimens in late April to this lab averaging a 24-hour turn around time. “At our request, they did go from six to seven days per week, and that really helped with the weekend turnaround time,” Brewer said. The longest turnaround time is to a lab in Salt Lake City, Utah, which also receives test speci mens from around the country. “It really depends on transport time to that particular labora tory, their demand at the time and their capacity at the time,” Brewer said regarding a lab’s turnaround time. The health system is currently only asking for symptomatic peo ple to come for testing. “We did try and open it up for a period of time to asymp tomatic folks. That sent the vol ume too high, and we weren’t able to handle that,” Brewer said. The percentage of tests com ing back positive reached 34.6% this week. Brewer said that number has bounced between the high 20s and the low 30s. Data provided Wednesday July 29, from Northeast Geor gia Health System showed there were 174 confirmed patients across the health sys tem and 94 patients awaiting District 2 Department of Public Health tests: ‘March 95 ‘April 938 May 5,430 June 6,261 July 7,650 TOTAL 20,374 (to date) ‘In March and April, fewer test kits were available results. The day before, those numbers were 173 and 75, respectively. District 2 Department of Pub lic Health spokesman Dave Palmer said results are cur rently taking about six to 10 days to return, which is up from the three to seven days DPH previ ously experienced. “As testing increased across the state, it stressed the labs to get the test completed and results back to individuals,” Palmer wrote in an email. Gov. Brian Kemp and DPH announced a partnership July 20 with Mako Medical for testing supplies and processing 10,000 tests per day. “Georgia has dramati cally expanded testing since the beginning of the COVID- 19 pandemic,” Kemp said in a statement from the announcement. “As demand for testing has soared across the country, many private labs have been unable to process tests quick enough to aid in contact tracing and mitigation efforts. With some Georgians waiting well over a week for their results, the status quo is unacceptable. This new part nership will not only expand the number of tests the state is able to administer, but also greatly reduce the turnaround time of those tests. This is vital to Geor gia’s efforts in our fight against COVID-19.” Longstreet Clinic is averag ing 111 tests per day. In the past week, there have been 780 tests with 26% testing positive. Testing has increased at the clinic, going from an average of 80 test specimens each day in the past month to now more than 100 test specimens per day. Some days have seen more than 150 tests. Longstreet Clinic officials have said there have been stretches where testing turnaround is 48-72 hours, but then hits “a pocket of tests” taking a week to return results. “Due to the increase in testing, they were seeing their collec tion supplies beginning to dimin ish instead of maintain a steady supply. There’s not a crisis by any means, but they are urging staff to make sure there’s strong reason to test for COVID before ordering (patient is symptom atic or there is a strong chance the patient has been exposed) so they continue to have enough supplies on hand to test those who need it,” said Erin Wil liamson on behalf of Longstreet Clinic. Looking ahead to the fall and its flu season, Brewer said the health system is trying to deter mine how to screen for multiple respiratory problems. Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Cars line up Wednesday, July 29, at The Longstreet Clinic for their drive-thru COVID-19 testing site. Patients are checked in and tested for COVID-19 Wednesday, July 29, at The Longstreet Clinic’s drive-thru testing site. SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Syfan Logistics in Gainesville has been slammed with positive COVID-19 cases. Dozens of employees in the company tested positive, apparently all traced back to a Father’s Day party and card game. ‘We’ve seen tragedy in history, and this is one of those times. We need to be mindful, smart and move forward — and for people to just educate and tell people of their experiences. Knowledge is power.’ Steve Syfan, co-founder and executive vice president, Syfan Logistics SYFAN ■ Continued from 1A company’s CEO, and his handling of the virus, as he had a double lung trans plant 15 years ago. “He gets tired, but he’s not on oxy gen. He’s home and he’s fine,” Steve Syfan said. He said the outbreak may have started from a card game before Father’s Day at his home and then days later, a Father Day’s gathering at his brother’s house. It turns out one of the people at the card game was asymptomatic, “so six of the eight (people there) came down with (the disease),” Steve Syfan said. And then, 13 of the 20 attending the Father’s Day event would later test positive for the virus. Still, Steve Syfan sees a positive in those events happening. “We were able to see it through and come out on the other end,” he said. “Just like with other viruses, we had it and we’re well — maybe that’s a com fort for people. If you get it, have com fort that you’re most likely to be OK.” And that reflects what the compa ny’s philosophy of “faith over fear,” when it comes to the coronavirus, he said. “We’ve got to protect the vulner able, the older folks, the sick. And people who are healthy shouldn’t ask for it, but don’t be scared to death of it,” Steve Syfan said. “We’ve seen trag edy in history, and this is one of those times,” he said. “We need to be mind ful, smart and move forward — and for people to just educate and tell peo ple of their experiences. Knowledge is power.”
