As the number of coronavirus cases continue to rise, so does the demand for testing.
Northeast Georgia Health System currently has more than 180 COVID-19 patients admitted at its hospitals and long-term care facilities, and it only has six ICU bed available across its campuses.
But the number of COVID tests conducted has more than doubled since the previous peak following the Fourth of July holiday, Bobby Norris, vice president of operations for the Northeast Georgia Physicians Group, said. Norris said the health system was testing about 200 people per day in July. Now it is testing about 400 people per day.
"We thought that the summer after the July 4th holiday would be our peak and that hopefully we were on the other side of the pandemic, but that's not the case," he said.
Norris said the health system has plenty of testing capacity available, but he said the available tests take 24 to 48 hours to get results. Patients who take such a test still run the risk of exposure to the virus before the results come back, so a negative result is not a guarantee.
"If someone is just exposed and don’t have symptoms, I think the mistake the general population is making is that they are getting tested too soon," Norris said. "So they may be exposed one day and they want to get tested either that day or the next. … The recommendation from the CDD is for exposure you should really wait 5 to 7 days after that exposure to get tested. If you get tested any sooner, that could really give you a false sense of security with a negative test."
Rapid tests are available, but they are in limited supply. So Norris said the health system has prioritized use of rapid tests on symptomatic health care workers and first responders, as well as high-risk patients.
"We wish we had an unlimited supply of the rapid tests because you do get the results back so quickly, but it's not our only option," he said.
To help patients navigate COVID-19 testing successfully, the health systems has published some guidelines on its webpage.
The system recommends anyone who has symptoms should be tested. Anyone who has been exposed to someone should quarantine following CDC guidelines.
Officials said that most test results should be back in no more than three business days. But with the increased demand, additional delays become possible because there are too many tests to keep up.
