MERIDIAN, Idaho — In a state with a population of roughly 1.7 million, only 93 people have been tested for the COVID-19 coronavirus, as of Thursday morning.
Currently, there no confirmed coronavirus cases in Idaho.
Until this week, the only place that did the tests was the state lab. Now commercial labs are now able to offer the kits.
Even with the increased availability of test kits, not everyone will be able to get tested. Labs like Quest Diagnostics are still following CDC guidelines for who gets tested.
“If you haven't been exposed to someone with a virus or traveled to an area where the virus is present, [and] here's the important part, have the symptoms that are very clear there, you don't need the test,” said physician Tommy Ahlquist, CEO of Ball Ventures Ahlquist, which owns Saltzer Health.
Saltzer Health will take any swabs they collect and send them off to Quest’s lab in California. He said the turnaround to get the results will be three to four days.
If someone wants to get tested, they’ll need to either show symptoms, traveled recently to an area that has the virus, or come into contact with someone who has it.
Ahlquist told KTVB anyone who comes into a Saltzer Health Urgent Care and wants to be tested will be asked to wait in an area other than the main waiting room.
Symptoms of COVID-19 can include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. These symptoms can take anywhere from 2-14 days to start showing after the initial exposure.
Ahlquist said more testing capability is a good thing because if people start to catch the virus in Idaho, there will need to be a way to test people.
“The big difference now is before we had limited kits that were available from the government essentially," he said. “Those kits are being reserved for the people who are very very sick and there was a limited supply.”
While there are more places conducting the tests, it's important that only those that fit the criteria for testing ask for it. That's because there is currently only a limited supply of kits.
Hospitals use a swab and container with a special liquid in the bottom to preserve the specimen. If there was a rush on hospitals for testing, these supplies would go quickly.
“This is a bad disease that doesn't have medication for it,” Ahlquist said. “It doesn't have vaccines for it, and we should take this very seriously. This could overwhelm our systems and we need to prepare for it.”
Ahlquist was an ER doctor in the Treasure Valley when the H1N1 pandemic hit the nation in 2009.
“I remember as an ER doctor right here in the parking lot having tents set up and hundreds of people coming through to be screened for that,” he said.
That said, the COVID-19 pandemic is different, given its widespread impact on the economy and major events. Several sports organizations have suspended their seasons, including the NBA, NHL, and MLS. MLB has canceled their spring training and postponed opening day by two weeks.
“I've never seen anything like this in my lifetime, I don't think any of us have,” Ahlquist said.
His message to the public right now is to stay calm, get the facts, and stay prepared.
“We're going to get through this, we always do,” he said. “We need to try and minimize the illness and take care of those people that get sick and we need to come together as a community.”
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare posted on their Facebook page on Thursday about the state lab. The post said they have materials to test about a thousand samples, testing is ongoing and there is no backlog.
In Idaho, the risk of contracting COVID-19 remains low, according to officials. At KTVB, we’re focusing our news coverage on the facts and not the fear around the virus. To see our full coverage, visit our coronavirus section, here: www.ktvb.com/coronavirus.
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