KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Local health officials have announced a new collection site for COVID-19 testing samples as the number of cases continues to grow in the Kalamazoo area.
On Tuesday the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department released details on a new program for pre-screened patients.
Individuals showing symptoms and considered a candidate for testing will be referred by their primary care provider to the county health department, which then can redirect them to the appointment-only testing site.
The new collection site will be run by the county health department in cooperation with the Fifth District Medical Response Coalition and Western Michigan University’s Homer Stryker School of Medicine. County health officials have declined to name where the site will be located, but patients will be given site information once they have been approved for testing.
Public Information Officer Lyndi Warner said that the county has confirmed two more deaths resulting from COVID-19, bringing the total to 5.The county has declined to identify the individuals or where they died but has described them as older adults with underlying health issues.
Overall 64 people have tested positive for the acute respiratory illness in Kalamazoo County.
Kalamazoo County sends testing samples to a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Laboratories facility in Lansing. Test results have experienced delays as the number of samples sent from local health departments overwhelm the center creating a backlog.
Turn-around times for test results at the lab have improved since the outbreak began on March 10th, but the pandemic prompted Kalamazoo County health officials to expand testing with help from community partners.
Medical Director Dr. William Nettleton describes the new collection program as a collaboration between university and public health officials.
“WMed Health will provide the clinical staff, the county health department will be providing the on-site location and providing logistics and testing supplies, and the region 5 medical coalition will help with coordination for this type of logistical operation,” said Nettleton.
The testing site will still send samples to the Michigan Bureau of Laboratories facility in Lansing, though having an additional collection site will help streamline the process and allow for a greater number of overall tests to be done.
Plans call for individuals arriving at the site to hand over the samples from their vehicle. In a released statement the county health department said that law enforcement will be that the undisclosed site to ensure the security of staff and visitors.
Kalamazoo County Health Officer Jim Rutherford stresses that testing should only be done for certain individuals considered at increased risk for COVID-19 based off of MDHHS emergency guidelines. Only individuals that fit criteria for what the state considers Priority 1 and Priority 2 categories should be tested due to limited supplies of test kits.
“We haven’t gotten any guarantee that it will be replenished overtime, so we’re taking advantage of the supply that we have,” said Rutherford. “It’s not a significant supply, but it gives us the ability to have this type of exercise.”
Priority 1 and 2 criteria include healthcare facility workers with symptoms, patients 65 years of age and older with symptoms, patients with underlying conditions with symptoms, and first responders with symptoms.
Michigan has seen a surge in COVID-19, with the total number of people contracting the illness totaling out at 18,970 cases and 845 reported deaths. The majority of cases are in the metro Detroit area with Wayne County alone accounting for nearly half the state’s coronavirus fatalities.
County health officials say that while the number of confirmed cases is far lower in Southwest Michigan, they expect many people to be either asymptomatic or not reporting the illness to their health care provider.
The department has clarified its stance on releasing COVID-19 data, after some community members have requested for more demographic and location information to be released to the public.
Rutherford says that releasing statistics reported in each zip code would compromise patient privacy and be an ineffective way of reporting community spread.
“We do not want to give the wrong impression about community spread. A zip code could have no positive cases, thus making people feel a false sense of security that it is not in their area,” said Rutherford. “We know people not showing any symptoms can have the virus and inadvertently spread it. Releasing zip code information about positive cases of COVID-19 is not accounting for all those asymptomatic people.”
The county currently releases updated numbers for COVID-19 cases and deaths each day at 3 p.m. and the state government posts daily numbers and relevant demographic information on its official coronavirus webpage at the same time.
Public health models have suggested that Michigan will likely see a peak in COVID-19 cases by mid-April. On Monday Governor Gretchen Whitmer said the “stay-at-home” order she issued has slowed the spread of COVID-19 in areas hit hardest by the virus.
