HANCOCK COUNTY — More COVID-19 testing is needed in the county, its top health official says.
As Dr. Sandra Aspy makes that assessment, it remains to be determined whether a state testing initiative will continue beyond this month, leaving the county health department to consider if and how it will fill the gap.
Recently, Hancock County’s daily COVID-19 testing average has been in the 120s, according to the Indiana State Department of Health. It’s been trending downward ever since a peak seven-day moving average of 151 on July 22.
Aspy, Hancock County’s health officer, said she does not believe enough COVID-19 testing is being done in Hancock County, adding she doesn’t think there are enough opportunities for people to seek tests. Her concern comes as schools are reopening and more people are winding up in close proximity to each other.
According to the state health department, COVID-19 tests are available in Hancock County at First Care, a private provider at 1317 N. State St., Greenfield; and for free at the Indiana National Guard Armory, 410 Apple St., Greenfield. The armory’s testing site is operated by OptumServe Health Services, with which Indiana contracted in the spring to expand testing across the state. Hancock Regional Hospital closed its COVID-19 triage clinic in early July, where it had offered testing, but it now offers testing elsewhere throughout its system.
Aspy said she feels not enough people know about OptumServe’s site or how to contact it. Appointments can be made at lhi.care/covidtesting. One caveat: The site says it can take four to six days for results, which officials have said is an eternity in tracking and limiting infections.
She doesn’t have in mind a number of tests she’d like to see being done in Hancock County per day, adding that figure would fluctuate. She also said anyone can be tested at any time for any reason.
The state health department expects to continue its contract with OptumServe through August and to continue to evaluate whether to proceed further with the program.
Aspy said the state is offering grants for local testing sites as OptumServe sites close and that the county health department is investigating that with community partners.
As of Aug. 7, 3,502 tests have been performed at OptumServe’s Greenfield site since opening on May 13, according to the state health department. Jeni O’Malley, a spokeswoman for the department, told the Daily Reporter in an email that the site’s daily testing numbers have fluctuated. She said the lowest number of daily tests the site has had was 12, and its highest was 237. O’Malley added testing numbers range from 60 to 130 per day for the past two weeks.
Craig Felty, vice president, chief nursing officer and chief operating officer of Hancock Regional Hospital, said the hospital’s COVID-19 triage clinic was a result of the virus’s initial wave and that lessons were learned about the process.
“And in that time, we definitely gained some efficiencies for testing,” he said. “We did it a lot, and so we determined we could absorb the work that was being done in the clinic in our physicians’ offices and other immediate care centers.”
Felty said the hospital has been administering about 65 COVID-19 tests a day. About 25 of those are run in-house, with results coming back within an hour or two. The rest get sent out to a laboratory. Normally results for those come back within two to three days, Felty said, but with the increased amount of testing, can take five to seven days.
Brian Dixon, a professor at Indiana University’s Fairbanks School of Public Health, said in July that he worries delays like that will hurt the ability to slow the spread of the virus.
“If it takes an additional two to five days to confirm someone has COVID, it means the individual could potentially spread the virus to others before getting their lab result,” Dixon said. “If we ask these individuals to stay home until their lab result comes back, people will be forced to be off work for a longer period of time while they wait for their results.”
Hancock Regional Hospital is allocated a limited number of in-house tests for which it can quickly get results, Felty said, and reserves them for cases like emergency room visits and admitted patients.
Hancock Regional Hospital’s daily testing numbers have been on the rise, Felty said, adding they used to range from 30 to 40. He attributed part of that increase to elective surgeries having resumed at the hospital, which require COVID-19 tests of patients beforehand. He also said schools starting back up and employers wanting employees to get tested could also be part of the reason.
First Care did not return requests for comment on how testing is going at its Greenfield clinic.
Hancock County’s biggest testing day was so far was on July 21, when 235 tests were administered. Aspy is not aware of any specific reason for that spike.
OptumServe was expected to have 50 testing sites operating around Indiana by the end of May, providing 100,000 free tests a month and providing results within an average of 48 hours, state officials said.
The state health commissioner, Dr. Kristina Box, said in July that the company had 35 testing sites open, with results averaging 59 hours and sometimes up to 80 hours to become available.
Box blamed the slower-than-expected results on a national increase in demand for test processing and supplies as the number of COVID-19 cases surged in Indiana and other states, many of which had aggressively lifted virus restrictions to reopen their economies.
The company has performed about 102,000 tests for the public at its sites, she said. That means OptumServe has only recently passed the 100,000-test threshold that it had been expected to reach in May.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Hancock County’s health officer, Dr. Sandra Aspy, offers these reminders as steps to thwart the spread of COVID-19.
Answer the phone if the state’s contact tracing team calls; the number will be 833-670-0067.
Symptoms are usually a fever and cough but can vary; 40% of people with COVID-19 have no symptoms.
Remain skeptical of negative rapid test results. Some tests have been shown to have a large false-negative rate (meaning people with the disease test negative or no virus antigen is detected). Having a negative test of any type does not change quarantine recommendations if you are under a 14-day stay-at-home order due to close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. Don’t leave a recommended quarantine due to a negative test. If in doubt, stay home; keep your student home; and call your health care provider, the board of health or school for recommendations.
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COVID-19 data
Hancock County
- 670 cases
- 38 deaths
- 10,693 tests
- 6.3% positivity rate
- 12 new cases on Aug. 9
- 0 new deaths
- 233 new individuals tested between June 3 and Aug. 8
- 4.3% seven-day positivity rate between July 28 and Aug. 3
Indiana
- 74,992 cases
- 2,838 deaths
- 852,111 individuals tested
- 1,076,630 tests administered
- 8.8% positivity rate
- 673 new cases on Aug. 9
- 3 new deaths between Aug. 7 and 9
- 11,149 new individuals tested, 19,446 new tests administered between May 2 and Aug. 9
- 7.5% seven-day positivity rate between July 28 and Aug. 3
Source: Indiana State Department of Health as of 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 9
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Physician can refer their patients for testing, but people can also seek tests at these sites:
— First Care, 1317 N. State St., Greenfield. Referrals are not required, and First Care accepts insurance. More information is available at firstcareclinics.com
–Indiana National Guard Armory, 410 Apple St., Greenfield. The armory’s testing site is operated by OptumServe Health Services through a contract with the state. More information is available at www.lhi.care/covidtesting
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