Clinic to take over coronavirus testing

Coronavirus testing remains underway locally, but Lincoln County Health Department officials plan to turn the effort over to the Center for Asbestos Related Disease.

As of June 1, the department tested about 1,537 residents for the illness, which can lead to COVID-19. But interest in getting tested has waned as the state slowly lifts restrictions aimed at curbing the pandemic.

“Things are pretty slow for us now,” said Jennifer McCully, the county’s public health manager. She told the county’s health board June 10 that department staff members set aside one day a week to conduct tests.

As demand ebbs, the hope is to let the CARD clinic spearhead testing efforts. Health officials have roughly $30,000 from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to underwrite the plan, McCully told county commissioners during a briefing earlier in the day.

The clinic likely will hire an individual to coordinate the effort. McCully expects that testing will ramp up as CARD assumes control.

It also will free health department staff up for other work, she said.

Dr. Brad Black, the county’s health officer, praised the plan.

“It’s good we’re collaborating. It divvies up the load,” he said. “We all have other jobs. We’re trying to come up with a model to allow us to do our work yet continue with that process [of developing] a good testing program here.”

At its peak, the coronavirus pandemic resulted in seven confirmed cases in Lincoln County. One individual died from COVID-19, but the remaining patients have recovered.

When demand for testing reached its zenith, officials set up a drive-through site at the CARD clinic. At first, only residents suffering symptoms associated with COVID-19 were permitted to undergo testing. That changed at the behest of Black, who sought to remove other barriers to testing.

By mid-April, health officials had dropped a required quarantine for those awaiting results. The fear was that the measure discouraged potential asymptomatic carriers, particularly those who stood to miss out on shifts at work.

They also emphasized that the test would be available free of charge.

As Gov. Steve Bullock rolled back restrictions on businesses, travel and public gatherings this spring, local officials reiterated the need for continued testing. McCully said that by bringing on an individual to coordinate the efforts, health officials could take a more data-driven approach to defending against the coronavirus.

“This person will be able to spend more time … actually looking at data and when we should go back for retesting,” she said, using an earlier effort to test the staff at the Libby branch of Rosauers Supermarkets as an example.

Black described it as “targeted testing.” The goal is to put in place a system of ongoing observation, he said.

“We think it’s important to keep surveillance on the community,” he said. “The better … to bring proper public health advice to the community such as to follow certain guidelines, and do our best to keep things under control.”

Black would like to see a testing program in place for at least a year. Efforts to design and implement a system are slow going, he admitted, but headed in the right direction. Ultimately, he expects to see testing ramp up again in the autumn and winter months.

“We’ll have other partners in the testing process,” Black said. “It will allow us to focus on what we need to do, but there will be a lot of people who need testing.”