Rapid coronavirus testing machines heading to select SC hospitals, prisons
Machines that can reduce the wait time from days to minutes for patients checking to see if they have the coronavirus are being set up around the state.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control has plans to distribute 15 rapid testing machines, made by Abbott Laboratories, that have been sent to the state by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to hospitals and the state Department of Corrections.
However, high use of the machines may not happen right away because there is still a high demand for the reagents needed to run these tests. The reagent is different than the traditional lab tests for COVID-19. DHEC only has enough reagents for five of the machines and is working to get more of the supply, said DHEC spokeswoman Laura Renwick.
However there is no timeline on when more reagent will become available.
The first set of machines are slated to go to Kershaw Health in Camden, Self Regional Healthcare in Greenwood, Piedmont Medical Center in Rock Hill, Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg, Bon Secours in Greenville, AnMed Health in Anderson and the Aiken Regional Medical Center.
The available reagent went to the facilities in Greenwood, Orangeburg, Camden, Anderson and Rock Hill, Renwick said.
Later this week, machines will go to McCleod Health in Clarendon, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare, Coastal Carolina Hospital, MUSC Health in Marion, the Williamsburg Regional Hospital, Lexington Medical Center, the Al Cannon Detention Center in Charleston County and the Department of Correction’s main intake center.
“We considered several factors on where this limited number of rapid-test machines could have the biggest reach in identifying those at highest-risk for developing severe complications from COVID-19,” Renwick said in an email to The State. “Some of those factors include ... regions with high numbers of positive cases; regions with rates above the state average for underlying conditions like diabetes, hypertension and chronic diseases; and a facility’s capacity to use the machines to expand testing to rural communities.”
Among the places that is on a short list if more machines become available is the Myrtle Beach area. In Horry County, 24% of the people are older than 65 years old, higher than the state percentage of 17%. People over the age of 65 are also more susceptible to having complications with the disease.
In South Carolina people 61 years old and older have accounted 34% of the residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 and 90% of those who have died from complications from the disease, according to DHEC figures.
DHEC officials looked at multiple variables including the number of recent cases in a community, number of people who are inpatients at hospitals who are positive for COVID 19, and cases where they need to rule out the virus to help clear a hospital, the agency’s acting director of public health, Nick Davidson, told reporters on a Wednesday conference call.
DHEC prioritized African American communities and poor populations, he added.
”We wanted to give it to many more communities,” Davidson said. “We wish we had more. We want to distribute more.”
The machines produce a positive result within five minutes and a negative result within 13 minutes, according to USA Today. The test time is much quicker than the 24 to 48 hour-wait on tests processed in the DHEC public lab, or the three-to-seven day turnaround at private labs that local health care providers have been reporting.
Because of the longer turnaround time, people who have had tests ordered have been advised to quarantine themselves until results come back and assume they have the coronavirus.
Wait time at a site with a rapid testing machine may vary depending on how much volume each location has when they are up and running with the machines, Renwick said.
As of Wednesday afternoon, 3,656 people in South Carolina had tested positive for COVID-19, with DHEC estimating there may be more than 25,000 people with the virus. So far 107 South Carolinians have died from complications of the coronavirus.
Reporter Emily Bohatch contributed to this article.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that FEMA distributed the rapid test machines to the states. The initial information provided was incorrect.
This story was originally published April 15, 2020 at 12:28 PM.
