Georgia Starts Processing COVID-19 Tests, Sees High Demand
There’s high demand for COVID-19 testing in Georgia.
One-third of the state’s tests for the disease caused by the new strain of coronavirus are gone the same day Georgia’s public health agency started processing them without outside help.
“We were given 150 test kits, and we’ve gone through already 50. Today alone, we had double-digit individuals tested,” said Dr. Kathleen Toomey, director of the Georgia Department of Public Health, at a press conference Thursday.
Toomey joined Gov. Brian Kemp and other members of the state’s coronavirus task force to announce that her agency is finally able to process tests for COVID-19 on its own.
Like many other states, Georgia had been relying on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for coronavirus testing. It had received a batch of tests from the federal public health agency in early February, but problems with one of the components left them unusable.
Eventually, Georgia obtained new tests. While the state’s public health lab can now process them, it will still rely on the CDC to confirm any results.
Demand for testing in the state shows no sign of slowing, Toomey said. She attributes that to broader parameters set earlier this week for who qualifies to get tested.
“Because the criteria, the strict criteria that had been in place by CDC, has been lifted, we have more leeway in order to approve testing,” she said.
Earlier this week, the CDC said anyone could get tested for COVID-19 with a doctor’s approval. The agency had previously limited testing to people who had traveled to certain countries.
And as testing ramps up, Toomey said case counts are also likely to rise.
“We expect we will ultimately find more positive cases,” Toomey said. “Although we do not feel at this time we have any indication the virus is circulating in the community, that there’s wide community spread.”
To date, only two cases of COVID-10 have been detected in Georgia. Both patients live in Fulton County, are reported to have limited symptoms, and are at home in isolation.