12/12/2023 0 Comments Nova health test![]() ![]() The Oregon State Public Health Laboratory can process coronavirus tests too, but due to limited capacity, the state lab focuses on rapid testing for people living or working in especially vulnerable settings, such as nursing homes, prisons and day cares.Ī Providence Health & Services lab's testing machine for processing samples for COVID-19 is pictured in an undated photo. Many of the state’s hospital systems including Kaiser, Legacy and Providence have their own laboratories that can quickly process tests. In Oregon, getting a COVID-19 test generally requires a doctor’s order. “It makes contact tracing much more difficult and much less effective.” A national problem with major Oregon impact “There’s a big prevention window opportunity missed,” she said. Jennifer Vines, Multnomah County health officer. With a virus as fast-moving and transmissible as COVID-19, the lag time in testing may be contributing to community spread, according to Dr. Public health clinics in Multnomah County have also been using Quest Diagnostics for testing and experiencing long delays. Testing is supposed to be the cornerstone of the state's effort to suppress the virus.īut local and national supply shortages, delays processing results at out-of-state labs, and competing demand from hard-hit states like Arizona and Texas are undermining Oregon’s efforts to track the virus and to find and isolate the close contacts of people who test positive before they unwittingly spread the virus to even more Oregonians. Related: Here's How Oregon's Reopening Depends On Testing And Tracing Benchmarks "That definitely is not meeting the need and purpose of testing in the first place.”Īlmost five months into the pandemic, the coronavirus is spreading, often undetected - and certainly under-detected - in every community in Oregon. It takes so much of our staff time, PPE and capacity,” said Sarah Poe, the Malheur public health director. ![]() In some cases, the calls came days after people’s symptoms had disappeared and after the Centers for Disease Control’s recommended 10-day isolation period had already elapsed. The county’s public health staff had to call people to let them know they had the coronavirus. Making the problem worse, about 16% of the samples collected during the testing drive came back positive for COVID-19. It took 14 days for the county to get the last of its results back from Quest. The county’s public health department sent its swabs by FedEx to Quest Diagnostics, a national lab Oregon has partnered with to increase testing capacity statewide. The local hospital is reserving its testing capacity - which returns results quickly - for admitted inpatients only.īut five days proved to be an optimistic estimate. On July 1, the Malheur County Health Department offered drive-thru testing at the county fairgrounds for people showing symptoms of the virus, with a promise they should get their results back in about five days.įor many in Malheur County, the drive-thru event was the only easy way to get tested. ![]()
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