10-minute COVID-19 testing rolls out at Wichita health clinic
Staff at GraceMed in Wichita already were testing patients with COVID-19, doing so with more traditional swab testing where results taking more than a week to come back.
Doctors say cutting that result-waiting time way down offers peace of mind to a lot of people. That's what's starting to happen now with more widespread testing in Sedgwick County and Kansas.
This week, GraceMed Chief Medical Officer Dr. Julie Elder and her staff have tested nearly 200 people for COVID-19 and all of them already have their results.
A simple finger-prick test and 10 minutes later, they already have a better idea about the status of that patient. If this test reveals a positive result, Dr. Elder says they follow with the nasal swab, "which tests for viral load."
This helps experts determine where in the infection process -- beginning, middle or recovered -- a patient is.
"The positives are reported to (the Kansas Department of Health and Environment) and they work in conjunction with the Sedgwick County Health Department and then they reach out to patients and they hlep track and identify possible exposures from there," Dr. Elder explains.
Only patients experiencing certain symptoms when screened are tested. A negative test, however, doesn't necessarily mean a clean bill of health.
"Certainly, this is not foolproof because a lot of it depends on the timing of the infection and where that person is in the timing of the virus," Dr. Elder says.
Even those who test negative for COVID-19 are asked to keep a close eye on their condition in case it worsens. Foolproof or not, however, Dr. Elder says the 10-minute test offers not only peace of mind for many, but information for experts working tirelessly to find answers.
"This helps us identify the volume of COVID in the state of Kansas," she says. "It will also help us identify overall, not just people who have been exposed and who are actually sick, but it should help us flatten the curve as well as we identify more."
