Arizona Daily Star
Elliot Truslow got a coronavirus test at CVS on June 15, just six days after breaking a strict quarantine routine to attend the Celebration for Black Lives on the University of Arizona campus mall.
Twenty-six days later, the UA graduate student has not gotten results.
The decision to seek out a diagnostic test was a precautionary one for Truslow, who had a slight cough, some congestion and minor chest tightness. All the symptoms associated with Truslow’s asthma.
But Truslow was encouraged to make sure at the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommended those who attended protests get tested after potentially being exposed in the crowds.
“I think that the process and the availability was great. But what does testing availability mean without the availability of results?” Truslow said.
At least one answer to the question is coming in the form of a two-pronged approach by Pima County, which has expanded the county’s contact tracing operation and is opening the county’s first free community-testing site at Kino Event Center on Monday, July 13. The goal: test 1,000 people a day.
The moves come as Arizona has cemented its status as one of the world's worst spot for the conavirus outbreak. That has increased demand for testing as a total of 14,729 received coronavirus tests in Pima County during the week of June 21-27, a 14.7 percent increase from the week before. That total was 10,281 during last week, although the week included the July 4 holiday, while some results can take seven to 10 days to be reported by the state.
It’s ultimately resulted in ongoing problems, which officials said have made it difficult to do things like identify people who have been exposed and need to quarantine.
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry called situations like that of Truslow “terrible.”
“If they’re waiting 26 days and they were in fact infected, they’re now probably over it and not shedding the virus. But you don’t know how many places they were and how many people they infected,” he said in general.
County officials are hoping the testing site and contact tracing expansion will allow them to test, identify positive cases, notify patients and trace those who may have been infected, all within 24 to 48 hours .
“The more timely we are, the better it improves the chances of isolating the infected person and reducing the number of infected people,” he said. “It’s probably the most important thing to do.”
Huckelberry said even though Pima County has just surpassed the 100,000-mark for total number of tests, local health officials said that the number should be at least double or triple.
Huckelberry estimates the tests will cost the county about $150 to $250 per test.
“We’re going to take people at their word to where they think they might have been exposed they can get a test,” he said. “We need regional testing. We need a lot more testing. … Given the increasing cases that do not appear to be abating, it’s very important to accelerate testing and make it community wide.”
Elliot Truslow got a coronavirus test at CVS on June 15, just six days after breaking a strict quarantine routine to attend the Celebration for Black Lives on the University of Arizona campus mall.
Twenty-six days later, the UA graduate student has not gotten results.
The decision to seek out a diagnostic test was a precautionary one for Truslow, who had a slight cough, some congestion and minor chest tightness. All the symptoms associated with Truslow’s asthma.
But Truslow was encouraged to make sure at the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that recommended those who attended protests get tested after potentially being exposed in the crowds.
“I think that the process and the availability was great. But what does testing availability mean without the availability of results?” Truslow said.
At least one answer to the question is coming in the form of a two-pronged approach by Pima County, which has expanded the county’s contact tracing operation and is opening the county’s first free community-testing site at Kino Event Center on Monday, July 13. The goal: test 1,000 people a day.
The moves come as Arizona has cemented its status as one of the world's worst spot for the conavirus outbreak. That has increased demand for testing as a total of 14,729 received coronavirus tests in Pima County during the week of June 21-27, a 14.7 percent increase from the week before. That total was 10,281 during last week, although the week included the July 4 holiday, while some results can take seven to 10 days to be reported by the state.
It’s ultimately resulted in ongoing problems, which officials said have made it difficult to do things like identify people who have been exposed and need to quarantine.
WAITING FOR RESULTS A “TERRIBLE” SITUATION
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry called situations like that of Truslow “terrible.”
“If they’re waiting 26 days and they were in fact infected, they’re now probably over it and not shedding the virus. But you don’t know how many places they were and how many people they infected,” he said in general.
County officials are hoping the testing site and contact tracing expansion will allow them to test, identify positive cases, notify patients and trace those who may have been infected, all within 24 to 48 hours .
“The more timely we are, the better it improves the chances of isolating the infected person and reducing the number of infected people,” he said. “It’s probably the most important thing to do.”
Huckelberry said even though Pima County has just surpassed the 100,000-mark for total number of tests, local health officials said that the number should be at least double or triple.
Huckelberry estimates the tests will cost the county about $150 to $250 per test.
“We’re going to take people at their word to where they think they might have been exposed they can get a test,” he said. “We need regional testing. We need a lot more testing. … Given the increasing cases that do not appear to be abating, it’s very important to accelerate testing and make it community wide.”
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