During the first two weeks of April, Pacific County continued mobile testing for coronavirus. So far 146 people have been tested with just 1 resident (who is out of state) confirmed positive.
Mobile testing sites were set up two weeks ago, one in north county and one in south county. A total of 51 individuals have been tested at the mobile sites. During the first week 13 individuals were tested in a South Bend site and 12 individuals were tested in a Long Beach site. All of the mobile tests have come back negative. Shoalwater Bay Clinic is setting up to start testing soon. Testing will continue while the COVID-19 crisis exists.
"The mobile testing is something that we haven't done before," said Pacific County Emergency Operations Center Information Officer Pat Matlock. "Overall it went off as smoothly as it could without having done one before."
Qualifications for testing
The mobile testing is not open to everybody currently. People who want to be tested must call the Pacific County Emergency Operations Center at 360-875-9407 or 360-642-9407 and go through a screening process. If callers pass the screening process, they will be scheduled for a test and told where the test is being conducted.
"Basically it is almost open to everybody," said PCEOC Katie Lindstrom. "There are a few groups that are not going to get in. So if you are under 65, don't have a fever, are not pregnant, you are staying home because your job is not essential, and you are not symptomatic - you are in the group that is not qualifying right now."
The screening questions are looking for symptoms that include a fever over 100.4F, shortness of breath and/or dry cough. The symptoms must be currently present or have occurred in the last 48 hours.
"It is different for different people," said Lindstrom. "We have definitely heard that people get sick, they start getting better, and then it comes back. Some people have very mild symptoms. It varies person to person."
"The hallmark sign is that shortness of breath versus the cough," she continued. "It's having that pain and shortness of breath in your lungs versus a cough that might come with allergies from post nasal drip. The shortness of breath is kind of different with this."
Process
The testing itself goes fairly quickly, only a couple of minutes per test. The test subject fills out some paperwork and signs a consent form. Afterwards they drive up, roll down their window, get a nose swab, and they are free to go back home. The hard part of the process is waiting for the results.
The tests are processed by the local hospitals. Nurses follow up the tests with phone calls with the results.
"We want to shout out to Willapa Harbor Hospital and Ocean Beach Hospital because they are processing all the labs and are really stepping up to be good partners," said Lindstrom.
The advice from the Health Department is to act like your test is positive until you get the results. Remember that if you qualify for the test at this time you have symptoms of being sick and do not need to be out in public anyway.
Supply of Test Kits
Pacific County currently has the ability to test 90 individuals at a time. The way the test kits are supplied to the county, allows the county to have an abundance of tests without having to stockpile them.
The county was given an initial amount of testing kits. Every time a test is used and sent off, the county is sent a new test kit. This is not a case of bulk ordering the test kits and once you use them you are out of them.
So while testing evolves at a national area, new testing kits are replenished to the county.
DO NOT PANIC
If you find yourself being tested or know of someone who has had the test, do not panic. ACT LIKE IT WAS POSITIVE, UNTIL YOU GET THE RESULTS.
If a test comes back positive, then a CDC nurse will start to investigate. They are the ones that will call the subject back with the results as well. The results are NOT given by friends or family.
During the investigation, the CDC nurse will find out where the positive test subject has been, who has had close physical contact with that person, give advice on quarantine or isolation requirements, and any medical treatment that will help.
The public is also notified if there is a positive case in the county. Names of positive test subjects are not released. The people who were exposed will be notified by CDC or Health Department Public nurses. Notification does not come from family members, friends, or friends of friends.
If you are symptomatic, call the PCEOC at 360-875-9407 or 360-642-9407 to see if you need to come in for testing.