LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A rise in coronavirus cases in the U.S. has strained laboratories conducting tests, leading to longer wait times in Louisville and elsewhere, Metro government’s top health official said Thursday.
It’s for that reason that Dr. Sarah Moyer, director of the city’s Department of Public Health and Wellness, said the priority should be those who are symptomatic or who have been exposed or think they’ve been exposed to someone with the illness.
She said she’s not encouraging people who feel fine to get tested.
Testing sites in Louisville are expanding hours and conducting more tests, “but because we’re opening and more people are having contact with others and our case count is increasing there is a higher demand for testing,” Moyer said.
That’s why, she added, “our emphasis and priority for testing is, first, those people with symptoms. We want to make sure we have enough tests that anybody with a symptom can get tested quickly and be able to isolate and stay home if they have COVID.”
Moyer said national laboratories that previously returned tests in 24 hours now take 36 hours to 10 days to provide results. She encouraged people waiting for test results to stay home.
Louisville has seen an increase in new cases – 438 during the week ended July 11, up from 323 the week before, according to a new city COVID-19 website launched Thursday.
The rate of positive tests – a statistic that accounts for fluctuations in testing -- has remained steady. It’s now at 7.4%, still above the 5% goal set by the World Health Organization.
Louisville officials, however, say the rate is likely lower, since they don’t receive the results of all negative tests performed at doctor's offices, pharmacy drive throughs, and pop-up testing sites.
Moyer said the increase in cases is driven in part by infections within households, at workplaces and from travelers returning to Louisville from other parts of the U.S. with “more COVID than us.” She said the best way to prevent outbreaks here is to avoid close conversations, indoor areas with poor ventilation and crowded places.
“Each one is risky, but when you have all of these together – that’s when you’re likely to be part of a cluster of cases where many people are infected,” she said.
The number of deaths from COVID-19 is decreasing, according to the new Metro government data. The city is not disclosing specific hospitalization data because it could endanger some patients’ privacy in hospitals with few cases.
But Grace Simrall, the city’s chief of civic innovation and technology, said “the current capacity of Louisville hospitals is more than adequate,” including intensive care beds and ventilators.
Simrall said there has been a “very slight increase” in hospitalizations and admissions.
However, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said hospitalizations are a “lagging indicator.”
“What we’re concerned about is this period of weeks between the trend going up and what can happen in the hospitals,” he said.
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