Wichitans seeking coronavirus testing are turned away; Wesley requests state action
A Wichita hospital wants the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to set up public testing sites in Wichita to ease the burden on its emergency room.
People who want testing are being turned away unless they fit a very strict set of criteria, a hospital spokesperson said late Friday afternoon.
Wesley Medical Center, which is caring for a 72-year-old man who is the area’s first positive case of COVID-19, can’t keep up with the number of people requesting testing. Those people are clogging the emergency room and interfering with the hospital’s ability to provide emergency care, according to a statement by the hospital.
Until more testing sites are available, Wesley is asking people with mild symptoms to self-quarantine instead of going to the ER.
“We want to make sure we can provide care to those patients who need it most,” said Lowell Ebersol, chief medical officer at Wesley. “For those who can, we simply ask that they refrain from coming to the ER unless their symptoms demand it. Doing so will help keep everyone safer by not exposing others — or themselves — to potential infection without need.”
Sedgwick County officials on Friday worked to put distance between the patient at Wesley Medical Center and Sedgwick County, declining to brief the public on his case and instead reiterating that there are no known cases among Sedgwick County residents. The patient lives in Butler County.
“It’s important to remember that since COVID-19 is not in our community yet, and is not community spread, that the criteria for who is to be tested has not changed,” Sedgwick County Health Director Adrienne Byrne said, more than a hour after the Wesley case was reported by news outlets across the country.
As the pandemic spreads throughout the United States, Sedgwick County is limiting testing to people who are displaying symptoms of the illness and have either recently traveled overseas in countries with large outbreaks or have come in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, according to the county.
Sedgwick County’s health department is asking anyone who has traveled overseas, whether they display symptoms or not, to self-report to the Sedgwick County Health Department to determine if they should self-quarantine for 14 days after returning.
Having no known cases among Sedgwick County residents could allow the county to continue testing a limited number of people under strict criteria. If those who are ill self quarantine without being tested, it could keep Sedgwick County residents in the dark about how the illness is spreading.
According to the CDC, a positive test in Sedgwick County’s jurisdiction would cause the county to broaden its testing criteria, resulting in more testing throughout the county.
“COVID-19 continues to evolve quickly,” Byrne said. “We currently do not have any Sedgwick County residents who are positive for COVID-19. This will change, but as of now, we do not have any Sedgwick County residents who are positive for COVID-19.”
Coronavirus has been in the United States for at least seven weeks, starting on the coasts and moving inward. New cases have poured in by the hundreds across the country.
Limited testing and delays in testing make an accurate count of infected Americans nearly impossible. By Friday, more than 1,700 cases were confirmed with more than 40 deaths.
Wesley is “not a public testing site,” Ebersol said. “We are hopeful that KDHE will take action to set up public testing sites in the near future, but all we can do on our end is test those that meet the criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control and KDHE.”
Unless they have severe fever, cough and shortness of breath, “people concerned about COVID-19 should simply quarantine themselves at home,” the Wesley statement says.