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New COVID testing site opens at Ellis Medicine in Schenectady

COVID Testing site at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady
WAMC.org
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Ashley Hupfl
COVID Testing site at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady

To help deal with the winter surge of COVID-19 cases, Schenectady County has opened a new testing site at Ellis Hospital in Schenectady.

The site has tested more than 300 people since opening Tuesday. Schenectady County interim Public Health Director Keith Brown says new appointments aren’t available until Monday.

“We're hearing it's been tough to get tested. That a lot of people are finding out that they've either been exposed or they're having symptoms and, unfortunately, you can't get tested. People don't know what to do," he said.

County data shows as of Wednesday, there are more than 2,700 active cases with a total of more than 22,000 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic. About 69 percent of the county’s population over age 12 is fully vaccinated.

While hospitalizations in Albany County have doubled, Ellis Medicine Chief Medical Officer David Liebers says they have not seen a similar uptick during the spread of the Omicron variant.

“The community transmission and the community of cases are not being matched in proportion by hospitalizations. So, I do think we're seeing more a mild disease, overall," he said.

Liebers says it’s unknown why the neighboring counties have such different numbers.

“Well, we have seen unusual, perhaps somewhat inexplicable differences within the Capital Region in the past, as well, and it sort of evens out over time.”

He added some of the cases being counted are due to “incidental COVID,” which he says counts people who are in the hospital for reasons like the delivery of a baby or pre-planned surgery.

“Other medical conditions without exhibiting signs of COVID disease are showing up as positive and they are being counted. We call them ‘incidental COVID,’ but they're still being isolated and treated as COVID hospitalizations." Liebers said.

Despite the low number, Liebers says they are prepared if hospitalizations begin to rise.

“We have plans to open up more floors. We have plenty of testings, we have plenty of room, we have plenty of ventilators and we are shifting staff around we can slow down other procedures, etcetera if we need.”

Meanwhile, residents are also struggling to find at-home rapid test kits. Brown says the county has received home test kits from the state, but most are specifically earmarked for schools.

“Those are specifically to be used for return to school for symptomatic students and to do ‘test-to-stay,’ which is way of students who have been exposed who would otherwise be on quarantine (are tested at school to see if they are able to return)," Brown said.

Democratic Schenectady County Legislator Michelle Ostrelich says her office has received countless calls from parents whose children have potential exposure and need to be tested.

“It's been really hard for families, when they know their kid needs to get back to school and their entire family just grinds to a halt, because now that child is home in isolation or quarantine, awaiting a test result.”

AsWAMC News reported last week, Brown says many residents have to rely on word-of-mouth or social media to find distribution locations for the at-home tests.

“So, right now people's best bet is to make an appointment at one of the sites to get tested, see if you can find rapid tests for some of the pharmacies, there have been some drops that have come out to pharmacies. And usually, municipalities announced this on their social media or other things, so just monitor that so you're aware as soon as they hit, because demand has been incredibly high," Brown said.

Dr. Leibers says his advice isn’t much different from what it was at the start of the pandemic: wear masks in public spaces and maintain social distance.

“There's no way we're going to stop the transmission of this virus completely. But, it's critical to keep it as slow as possible so our healthcare system can absorb the extra work that would necessarily follow a big surge in hospitalizations," Liebers said. "We really hope to avoid that and opening a clinic like this is part of that project.”