As COVID-19 cases rise throughout Mississippi, health care providers in the Delta are seeing different result times for coronavirus tests.
Ladedra Lacy, an executive assistant at Mallory Community Health Center in Greenwood, said they served more than 200 people on Wednesday while conducting tests in the Greenwood Utilities parking lot.
Lacy said the health center tested all who asked, even if they were not showing symptoms. She said the center expects to have the results back in 48 to 72 hours, based on the estimate by the test provider, LabCorp.
LabCorp, one of the world’s largest clinical laboratory networks, is stressing providing test results in a timely manner, even with the rise in testing capacity. In a statement released on Sunday, it said the laboratories were able to process 165,000 tests per day with plans to increase capacity further.
“With this additional capacity, we have reduced the average time to deliver results to three to five days from specimen pickup,” the company said. “For hospitalized patients, the average time for results is faster.”
LabCorp has performed around 7.5 million molecular tests since March.
The Winona Times reported Thursday that Tyler Holmes Memorial Hospital in Winona has tested more than 1,500 patients, but due to a limited supply of rapid tests, the hospital will be testing only symptomatic patients.
According to a hospital administrator, Cori Bailey, when the hospital initially started rapid testing, it would provide results within the hour. The hospital also tested all patients, whether they exhibited symptoms or not.
However, now that the supply is running low, it will test only those who exhibit symptoms of the virus such as a fever or shortness of breath. Bailey said the tests the hospital has now must last until the end of the month.
Bailey said many people traveled from other cities to Tyler Holmes for tests.
“I couldn’t even tell you the amount of people who came from Greenwood to get tested,” she said. “We had people come from all over the state come and get same-day results.”
North Sunflower Medical Center in Ruleville, which offers rapid tests, has been busy, too.
“Honestly we have seen people from all over the Delta come test here,” said Robyn Marlow, director of community relations.
However, Marlow said, rapid testing is not always the best option for everyone. If you have minimal contact with an infected person and were able to stay 6 feet away from him or her, then a test sent to a lab may be more helpful, she said.
“The tests that get sent away to the labs prove to be more accurate,” Marlow said. “If people come to get tested, the hospital encourages the rapid testing if they are exhibiting symptoms of the virus.”
Dr. Michael Boler, who practices internal medicine in Greenwood, said a significant number of people have called and requested testing for the coronavirus recently.
He said the problem with the rapid tests is that they are distributed through the state and can become limited based on the number of places that need them.
“We only have so many tests that we receive per week, so those are kind of scattered out between the emergency room, admissions to the hospital, surgery and OB patients,” he said.
Boler also said the increased number of tests has caused a delay in receiving test results.
“Initially we were getting the results back in about two days. Because of the nationwide load on the reference lab, that’s been expanded approximately 10 to 14 days,” Boler said.
Last month, the American Clinical Laboratory Association noted that the country was on an upward trend for COVID testing, and therefore the turnaround of results was slower.
“In light of the ongoing spread of COVID-19 in states across the country, many labs are now receiving more test orders than they are able to process in a single day,” the association said. “We have urged ordering providers to prioritize testing for those most in need, especially hospitalized and symptomatic patients. That will help better manage demand for testing while labs continue to perform COVID-19 testing and increase their capacity, which will require adequate supplies and additional equipment.”
• Contact Adam Bakst at 581-7233 or abakst@gwcommonwealth.com. Twitter: @AdamBakst_GWCW
