Lexington doctor: Health care workers testing positive for coronavirus causes concern
Bluegrass Extended Care has tested more than 200 people for coronavirus via its drive-up testing method, and results from one day were worrisome for medical workers, the physician said.
Bluegrass is one of the few facilities in the state that has done drive-through or drive-up testing. The tests have been offered twice — March 20 and Wednesday — and are likely to return next week.
There aren’t enough supplies to do testing daily, said organizer Dr. John Richard.
Bluegrass hadn’t received results from Wednesday’s testing, but there were four positives in the March 20 results, and three were health care workers, said Richard, a primary care physician at Bluegrass.
“There might be a larger percentage of health care workers affected,” Richard said. “And we need to make sure we protect those people to assure they don’t spread it when trying to improve the situation.”
Richards gave some priority to health care workers during drive-up testing days. Medical workers who show up with only a couple coronavirus symptoms were still likely to get tested by Bluegrass, whereas others usually have to meet four or five of the primary symptoms, Richard said.
“We’re looking to make sure that no one’s getting this test just out of curiosity,” he said.
Health care workers have proven to be at risk on a much larger scale in other parts of the country, as the greater Boston area now has more than 100 confirmed coronavirus cases in health care employees, according to a Thursday Boston Globe report.
What makes drive-up testing more efficient?
Richard said he does coronavirus testing every day in his office, but organized drive-up days allow Bluegrass to do up to four times as many tests.
On drive-up testing days, Richard and his team ran a more efficient system. They controlled the flow of traffic in the parking lot, where they checked patients’ vitals and determined whether or not the patients needed to go inside where samples were collected for screening.
Volunteers have helped direct traffic and make sure the process runs smoothly outside. They’ were mostly retired people or people who weren’t working due to coronavirus closures, Richard said, and they were kept away from patients to avoid coronavirus exposure.
Patients who were tested were kept isolated in a private exam room once inside the building.
“We maintain that isolation, that separation the whole time,” Richard said. “It’s not like in my waiting room where they’d sit around other people.”
Bluegrass should be able to do drive-up testing at least once more, Richard said, and he’s aiming for Tuesday, possibly followed by Thursday. Bluegrass said on its Facebook page it would continue to do the drive-up testing if supplies were available.
Bluegrass was working with Solaris Diagnostics, the lab that has provided the tests. Those with insurance to not have to pay for the tests. Tests are $150 for those without insurance. Richard also provided three or four tests for free, he said, but only in select cases where symptoms were severe and money was clearly an issue for the patient.
In addition to working with Solaris for tests, Bluegrass has gotten assistance from businesses in Lexington, Richard said. Texas Roadhouse sent the doctor’s office food, and Lowe’s helped provide masks that are commonly used by drywallers. Richard’s friend helped him get access to hazmat suits, he said.
Bluegrass will look to help the state
If the state gets drive-up or drive-through testing going, Richard said he won’t compete with them.
“If there’s not enough testing sites, then we would be a testing site and cooperate with them,” Richard said. “This is really not about only one team doing the testing, this is about everybody being able to do the testing.”
Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday that state-run drive-through testing could start as soon as Monday.
“Even if we get this plan up fully and expand it in the way we want, resources are still going to be limited even though there will be significantly more tests than we’ve seen to date on a large scale,” Beshear said.
This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 3:15 PM.