Mount Nittany Health continues COVID-19 testing, with result turnaround time ‘still too long’
Mount Nittany Health has collected upward of 300 of COVID-19 tests, the health care system’s chief medical officer said Wednesday, with result turnaround time showing improvement.
Anyone in the State College-based health care system who needs to be tested for the new coronavirus can be, and the organization has no intention of limiting who may be tested, Mount Nittany Health Chief Medical Officer Nirmal Joshi said.
“Whoever needs to be tested based on (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines and the clinical judgment of our providers gets tested,” Joshi said.
There are about 7,000 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in Pennsylvania, according to the state Department of Health, with 28 cases in Centre County as of noon Thursday. The county’s first case was reported March 20, and the amount of positive cases is likely to continue increasing because testing has become more accessible, Joshi said.
“When more people get tested, just by statistical odds, we for sure are going to see the number of positive tests go up,” Joshi said. “How much is open to question, but we certainly expect the numbers to go up.”
Mount Nittany Medical Center is treating its first inpatient that is positive for the new coronavirus, the organization said late Wednesday night.
It is the first inpatient in the Mount Nittany Health system to test positive for COVID-19. The test results were confirmed Wednesday evening, a spokesperson said in a statement.
About 13 of the about 300 tests collected by Mount Nittany Health and sent to commercial labs came back positive, Joshi said. Geisinger, one of the health systems in the state that offers in-house testing, declined to release how many tests it has collected.
Do you meet the COVID-19 testing guidelines?
The CDC has issued “constantly evolv(ing)“ guidelines for who should be tested, Joshi said, but decisions are at the discretion of state and local health departments, along with individual clinicians. Not everyone needs to be tested for COVID-19, according to the CDC. Most have mild illness, are able to recover at home and there is no treatment specifically approved for the virus.
Guidelines typically rely on a combination of symptoms, like cough, shortness of breath, fever or loss of smell or taste, and whether someone has traveled in a country with widespread, ongoing transmission.
Patients in the Mount Nittany Health system must have a prescription in order to be tested.
Those with a prescription are then encouraged to go to Mount Nittany and Penn State Health’s joint drive-thru collection site at 1700 Old Gatesburg Road in State College. Patients without a primary care physician can reach Mount Nittany Health at 844-278-4600 for more information.
Geisinger also requires an appointment before patients may be tested in its health care system, including at a Centre County location. The Danville-based health system developed its own COVID-19 test and results typically return in three to 24 hours, spokeswoman Malini Mattler wrote in an email.
The test involves swabbing the inside of a person’s nostrils with a swab that is long enough to reach the upper part of the throat.
Access to rapid turnaround tests ‘very limited’
Test results have been returned from commercial laboratories at a “reasonably consistent” rate — about one to two days, Joshi said. In mid-March, test results were being returned in about eight to 10 days.
The goal for health care systems is to reduce the turnaround time for results to less than one hour. One to two days is “still too long,” Joshi said.
Some commercial tests are able to confirm results in less than one hour, but access to those tests is “very, very limited,” Joshi said. Mount Nittany does not yet have access to the tests.
“The big advantage of having a rapid turnaround is that it completely eliminates patients’ anxiety if you do the test and in a very short time you know you’re negative,” Joshi said.
Another advantage of a shortened turnaround time is reducing the amount dedicated rooms and equipment used, like masks and other personal protective equipment, Joshi said.
“If the turnaround time is days, you’re using all of that equipment and, in a sense, wasting it. It could’ve been put to much better use had we known within an hour that someone was negative,” Joshi said. “You can only imagine how many pieces of equipment have been wasted over time just because turnaround time on tests have been so long.”
Geisinger developed its own COVID-19 test and results typically return in three to 24 hours, spokeswoman Malini Mattler wrote in an email.
Contact tracing for positive patients ‘not feasible,’ DOH says
Some Pennsylvanians have pressed the state Health Department to provide more information about where those who tested positive have been. But with about 7,000 cases, contact tracing is “not feasible,” department spokesman Nate Wardle wrote Wednesday in an email.
“Contact tracing involves having a lengthy, detailed discussion with an individual who has tested positive to determine where they may have been, and who could have been potentially exposed,” Wardle wrote. “With ... 7,000 positive cases, and also community spread occurring in Pennsylvania, this is not feasible at this time.”
Those who tested positive should be notified by either the state Health Department of their physician. They are then encouraged to contact those locations in which they could have had close contact with other individuals, such as their workplace, and notify them.
Remaining at least six feet away from others and proper hand hygiene are the two most important mitigation measures, Joshi said.
“Please take that very, very seriously,” Joshi said. “If there’s anything that’s likely to get this epidemic under control, it’s that.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 9:32 AM.