With the county’s first positive COVID-19 case announced today, public health officials say limited testing capacity has “greatly impacted” their ability to contain the local spread of the virus while reinforcing the need for consistent social distancing.
Troy Henderson, director of Whitman County Public Health, wrote in an email this afternoon that local officials believe the coronavirus has “most likely gone undetected in our community … for some time.”
“The inability to perform adequate testing has greatly impacted our ability to identify and contain this disease,” Henderson wrote. “We continue to have much less testing capacity than we would prefer.”
Update, March 23: Henderson estimated local facilities have supplies on hand to conduct about 50 tests countywide. He noted that ideally they would have the ability to conduct 250 to 400 tests a day.
A second confirmed case, involving a woman in her 70s, was also reported March 23.
Pullman Regional Hospital also announced Monday it will open a testing and triage center behind the hospital near the Emergency Department. Find details here.
“It is very important to note that testing is not guaranteed and will only occur if a patient meets criteria,” the release states. “Patients do not need a doctor’s order to come to the Center.”
The county health department Sunday reported the county’s first confirmed COVID-19 case, a woman in her 20s, who has already recovered. The press release stated the woman will be self-isolating at home. The Moscow-Pullman Daily News published some additional details this evening.
Officials reportedly continue working to identify any related exposure risks.
The county public health website states at least 33 other local tests have so far come back negative as of this afternoon. (Not all negative tests must be reported to public health authorities.) They expect additional positive cases to arise as testing expands.
When asked if the woman’s city of residence would be released, Henderson responded that providing city or other location details at this time might give people a false sense of security.
“It is … prudent for all residents to maintain social distancing and monitor their own health under the assumption that the disease is in their community,” he wrote. “I do not want residents to get a false [sense] of security (it’s not in my town) or to think it’s someone else’s issue.”
The department’s announcement reiterated important social distancing practices such as regular hand washing and avoiding close contact with others. It states you should contact your healthcare provider if experiencing a cough, fever and shortness of breath.
More information can be found at the county’s COVID-19 website.
“We all as Americans are in this together,” Henderson wrote, “and we all have the potential of being personally impacted.”