WellSpan moves coronavirus testing outside to avoid spreading virus

WellSpan is taking its coronavirus testing outside.

Literally.

Tents holding testing centers can be found near emergency entrances to WellSpan hospitals in Lebanon, Waynesboro and York. Eventually, similar testing tents will be found at the rest of WellSpan’s sites in Gettysburg, Ephrata and Chambersburg.

As of Friday's update, 33 people have tested positive in Pennsylvania for coronavirus. 

People who go through the protocol and are sent to the hospital for testing will use the open air tents instead of going inside.

“Our goal here is to have as much evaluation without the risk of spread by keeping people away from other patients and to make an assessment,” WellSpan Health Sr. Vice President Hal Baker said Thursday night at a York Hospital media event.

Having tents outside of the facility doesn’t mean that people who have the symptoms – intense cough, fever and shortness of breath – should go directly to the tents for testing. There are still protocols to follow.

 “This is a process that started on the phone with one of our clinicians to assess someone’s risk of being exposed to the coronavirus and walk through the current guidelines about whether the person needs testing,” Baker said as two people were being tested. Those people were still being tested when the media event concluded.

“We are cooperating with the Pennsylvania Department of Health to do testing with them when they deem it appropriate and recently we’ve been able to offer commercial testing for lower acuity cases,” he said.

If a person makes it to the tents, they will receive two tests – one for the flu and one for coronavirus.

More:Map shows coronavirus cases in Pa., the US, and the world

The flu can be determined in a short time. If the test is positive, medical officials won’t go through with the coronavirus test. If the flu test is negative, they will continue with the coronavirus test.

“Eighty percent of the patients who get this condition, based on what we saw in Europe and Asia, will recover at home,” Baker said, “and will not need hospital care or inpatient treatment. And we want as many of them to do that in their home and infect as few people as possible.

“If we can’t stop this virus, we can at least slow it down.”

That’s why a positive coronavirus test means a person will have to isolate themselves at home and avoid contact with others.

“That’s why all of this work in canceling events, changing our social habits is critical,” he said. “It requires all of us.”

Baker couldn’t say how many people have been tested at WellSpan facilities, but that the state department of health is keeping track of those numbers. He did say that no one has tested positive in any of the counties with a WellSpan facility (Adams, Franklin, York, Lancaster and Lebanon).

He believes WellSpan has an adequate number of test kits.

“We’ve been working with the department of health and we’ve always had a test kit when they felt testing is needed,” he said. “We have recently been able to augment that with commercial testing that has recently become available.”

Shelly Stallsmith is a trends reporter for the York Daily Record. She can be reached at mstallsmith@ydr.com or followed on Twitter at @ShelStallsmith.