George Washington University Hospital is preparing to offer drive-through coronavirus testing, as covid-19 infections continue to push through the Washington area.
The update came Wednesday during a virtual town hall with hospital leadership.
“This is going to be available to all D.C. residents,” said William Borden, the chief quality and population health officer at George Washington University Medical Faculty Associates. He specified, though: “This will be for people who have an order from a provider.”
Borden did not give a timeline for when the drive-through will open. He also said the logistics are still in the works, but the tents will be established at the hospital’s Foggy Bottom campus.
“This request came to GW from the city of D.C.,” he said. “The city has been setting up a network of drive-through testing at multiple sites around the city, one of them being here at Foggy Bottom at GW.”
People showing signs of the coronavirus must get a test order from a health-care provider, either their own or through a telemedicine visit with a GW provider. Patients then will be able to access the drive-through by contacting the 311 call center or accessing a soon-to-launch website to make an appointment, Borden said.
He said patients will be told where they should enter to get into line and that they will show identification through a closed window to confirm identities. The tests will be conducted under a tent by health-care workers wearing masks, goggles and gloves, he said.
He said results will probably take as long as eight or nine days. “Just because you go to the drive-through, it’s not like you are going to get your results back right away.”
The move toward drive-throughs underscores how testing availability and delays have hampered the public health response to the pandemic — a point echoed at the virtual town hall by Lynn Goldman, dean of the Milken Institute School of Public Health.
“We’ve been working in our labs and the hospitals to just try and increase the testing,” Goldman said. “That has been one of the most frustrating things for us in public health is the lack of the availability of the test.”
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9kYy1tZC12YS8yMDIwLzAzLzMxL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLWRjLW1hcnlsYW5kLXZpcmdpbmlhLWxpdmUtdXBkYXRlcy_SAXBodHRwczovL3d3dy53YXNoaW5ndG9ucG9zdC5jb20vZGMtbWQtdmEvMjAyMC8wMy8zMS9jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1kYy1tYXJ5bGFuZC12aXJnaW5pYS1saXZlLXVwZGF0ZXMvP291dHB1dFR5cGU9YW1w?oc=5
2020-03-31 18:54:43Z
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