Think you may have coronavirus? Here’s what you should — and shouldn’t — do.
If you think you’re showing symptoms of coronavirus and plan on visiting an emergency room or urgent care center, the message from local health departments is clear — don’t.
As the virus continues to spread across the state, reaching 105 positive cases on Monday, open testing was still not available in the metro-east. Instead, local health departments were acting as gatekeepers to determine who will be tested based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control.
“We don’t want people just coming in to emergency rooms or their doctors’ offices,” said Brenda Fedak, a spokesperson for the St. Clair County Department of Health.
As of Monday, Mercy Hospital in Chesterfield, Missouri, was the only open testing site in the St. Louis area, offering a drive-thru collection site exclusively for patients who have a fever of at least 100.4 degrees and respiratory symptoms including cough or shortness of breath.
Though most hospitals in St. Clair, Madison, Randolph and Washington counties are equipped with test kits and can collect samples to send to Illinois Department of Public Health testing labs, only a few of those who are screened by their health care providers will actually be tested for the coronavirus.
“What people need to understand is that there is a limited number of tests available nationwide,” Peter Hertzing, spokesperson for Sparta Community Hospital, said Monday. “The far majority of people do not meet the criteria.”
When you recognize the symptoms
Symptoms of the virus include fever, coughing and shortness of breath. According to CDC guidelines, Illinois hospitals will test patients who have a fever, cough or difficulty breathing that has worsened over 48 hours, patients who have been in close contact with others known to have COVID-19 and patients and close contacts who have traveled from an area with ongoing spread of COVID-19.
With the number of cases in the state expected to increase, officials from local health departments stressed that the first thing people should do is call their health care provider from home. Leave it to family physicians to do the initial screening and determine if a test is warranted.
Heading out to the emergency room or doctor’s office waiting room increases the risk that others will be infected, Herzing said.
“Your health care professionals will give you guidance on where you should go from there,” Herzing said. “We don’t want to expose people who are not sick.”
As of Monday, Sparta Community Hospital had sent in one coronavirus kit for testing. It came back negative.
Samples had also been collected at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, Fedak said, but there were no more confirmed cases in the county outside of the two which were announced over the weekend. Those two women were recovering at home with mild symptoms, she said.
Kim Renth, a spokesperson for Memorial Hospital, said the hospital is assessing its ability to create a collection site for the community.
“Although we are moving as quickly as possible regarding logistics, there is no definitive timeline at this time,” she said.
St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Belleville also had the ability to test, but Fedak said it had not tested anyone for the virus as of Monday afternoon. Touchette Regional Hospital in Centreville was not offering tests.
In Madison County, both Anderson Hospital in Maryville and Gateway Regional Medical Hospital in Granite City also can test patients who are referred to them from the department of health.
More testing kits needed
Washington County Hospital president Brian Monsma said, though the hospital had the capability to test, none of the patients it had screened recently met the criteria to be tested for COVID-19.
“The problem for everyone right now is getting additional collection kits,” Monsma said, adding that his hospital was one of many coordinating with the state to make sure it was equipped before the pandemic escalates in the region.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been vocal in his criticism of the federal government and the lack of testing kits available nationwide.
“We need more testing capability,” Pritzker wrote in a March 11 tweet condemning President Donald Trump for not taking the pandemic seriously.
Dr. Raj Govindaiah, chief medical officer at Memorial Health Systems, told Illinois Public Radio Sunday that, though health care providers know there are many people who want to be tested, it’s still very limited at the moment.
“The bigger problem is there are people that physicians want to test that we don’t have enough testing kits and ability to run those tests,” he said. “So we’re really having to make some tough decisions about who to test.
“I hate that. I want that to change as soon as possible.”
The Illinois Department of Health also is putting pressure on the federal government to provide more test kits.
“We want to make sure those at higher risk of severe illness are prioritized for testing and that they can receive the medical care they need,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the department’s director said in a press conference Monday. “We ask those who have mild symptoms to stay home so the health care system is not overwhelmed.”
This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 12:00 AM.
.jpg)