Coronavirus In Arizona: When Drive-Thru Testing Will Be Available

Testing for the new coronavirus, currently limited to Arizonans who are most at risk of catching COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, should be more widely available at drive-thru sites yet this week, according to state health officials.

Banner Health is teaming with the Arizona Department of Health Services to increase the availability of testing. All people experiencing symptoms consistent with COVID-19 — coughing, a fever, shortness of breath and other symptoms commonly associated with influenza — will be tested, according to Dr. Marjorie Bessel, the health system’s chief medical officer.

But their first step for those who think they’ve been infected should be to call their health care providers so they can prepare for the patient’s arrival and reduce the risk that other patients will be infected.

For the latest on the new coronavirus in Arizona, sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Phoenix Patch and Tucson Patch.

Widespread testing is a key to controlling the spread of the coronavirus, and it will give Arizona health officials a better idea of how widespread the virus really is in the state, according to Dr. Cara Christ, the state’s chief health officer, who told the Arizona Republic she expects to see Arizona coronavirus cases spike when testing becomes more widely available.

Arizona had 27 of the 7,323 confirmed coronavirus infection cases nationally as of midday Wednesday, according to a coronavirus case tracker from Johns Hopkins University. There have been 115 coronavirus-related deaths in the United States; none of those was in Arizona.

Of those, 11 are in Maricopa County, eight are in Pinal County, five are in Pima County, two are in Navajo County and one is in Graham County.

The testing sites haven’t been announced, but will be listed on the Arizona Department of Health Services website.

Christ said she would issue a “standing order” that allows Banner Health and Sonora Quest Laboratories to test patients with symptoms without a doctor’s recommendation, which had previously been required.

Public health officials in Maricopa County, where 11 people have tested positive for a coronavirus infection, also want to offer drive-thru testing.

Only people showing symptoms would be tested at those sites, according to Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, an infectious disease specialist and medical director of disease control for the Maricopa County health department. The goal is to eliminate co-pays, but require patients to sign a consent form agreeing to self-isolate until they’re free of symptoms, the Arizona Mirror reported.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people who have symptoms self-quarantine for 14 days.

The Coronavirus Dictionary: Terms You Need To Know But May Not

A Wednesday report by ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power and other public concerns, found that an influx of COVID-19 patients could overwhelm hospitals in both Phoenix and Tucson.

Coronavirus: Tucson Has Acute Hospital Bed Shortage, Report Says
Coronavirus Phoenix Hospitals Lack Beds For Patient Influx: Report

Sunenshine told the Arizona Mirror that among the options being considered to increase hospital bed capacity is to reopen some hospitals that have been shuttered. Health care workers are already changing how they’re going about their jobs, but are no longer subject to quarantine, as it’s assumed that most already have been exposed, she said.

All health care workers are required to self-monitor symptoms, including checking their temperature twice a day, Sunenshine said.

The Arizona State Public Health Laboratory tested 200 people in the two-week period beginning March 2, and will continue to test high-priority cases. It’s not known how many coronavirus tests private labs have performed.

Other efforts to identify the coronavirus in Arizona include the Translational Genomics Research Institute, which has started “population screening” for people who think they might be sick with COVID-19. According the the Republic, the organization currently has the capacity to run about 200 tests a day, but expects to expand capacity to about 1,000 a day.

Mayo Clinic, which has several speciality clinics and health care facilities in the Phoenix area and headquarters its Arizona operations in Fountain Hills, has dispatched mobile units to collect samples from its patients

"We are also supporting other providers in the Valley, sharing what we have learned, as they look to open their own alternative testing locations," Mayo said in a statement.

The commercial laboratory LabCorp is also processing test samples from doctors, at a cost of about $51.31. Results are typically available in three or four days.

“LabCorp is working every second of every day to increase the number of tests that we can run," the company said in a statement. "We have been working closely with the government and others to increase test capacity and respond to this public health crisis."