ETSU Health announced Tuesday that it will be extending hours at its COVID-19 testing site due to limited supply of rapid at-home tests in the region and an increase in
As cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) began rising in the region over the summer, ETSU Health leaders decided a community testing site could play a role in battling the pandemic locally.
Fortunately, they already had a platform they were using to process COVID-19 tests in-house, allowing them to return results faster than most other testing sites, despite not using rapid tests.
ETSU Clinical Labs Director Dr. Kevin Breuel was credited with creating the platform earlier this year for in-house testing of health care workers and patients, which is now being used for tests collected at the community testing site.
ETSU Healthâs novel coronavirus (COVID-19) testing site has moved to the East Tennessee State University parking garage, a move necessitated by rising demand for testing as cases in the region surge.
âThe reason weâre moving is we didnât quite have the capability for the capacity we had anticipated in the Johnson City Community Health Center,â said Dr. Sheri Holmes, ETSU Healthâs chief medical officer.
Holmes said the clinic is already a busy place with a lot of foot and vehicle traffic, and that the move to the second floor of the parking garage will help make the process quicker and more efficient. The testing site will also become a 100% drive-though model, whereas the previous iteration was a hybrid drive-through/walk-in site.