Coronavirus Update and Health System Preparations - 3/20

Elective Medical Procedures
The state has issued an order requiring all elective medical procedures to be delayed until at least April 5. All non-urgent/emergent procedures will be cancelled starting Monday, 3/23/2020. We ask you to contact your physician for assistance in determining if a case would be considered urgent/emergent based on guidelines that have been established.

Screening
Unfortunately, some specimens from the screening effort were unable to be tested by the lab. Feedback from the state lab has indicated two main reasons for this. First, reports of insufficient cooling during transport have contributed to specimens that could not be tested. The second issue has been the lack of sufficient material to test. These issues have impacted both the swab and Sputum cup collection methods and DCH and other hospitals across the state have been working to improve their processes as information has come in.

We are working with FEMA, ADPH, and the US Government to get more swab test kits to meet the needs of our community ASAP.

If you record indicates the sample was insufficient for a test and you are feeling worse, please know you can come back and get retested or see/call your doctor. False negatives are not impossible and even if negative you can still get infected later. You should practice social distancing for at least 14 days from the onset of symptoms.