ByBriana Collier|September 2, 2020 at 3:29 PM EDT - Updated September 2 at 4:28 PM
EVANS CO, Ga. (WTOC) -Evans Memorial Hospital received official results from their first COVID-19 drive-thru testing.
They partnered with East Georgia Healthcare to offer two days of free testing last week.
Evans Memorial CEO Bill Lee says they were surprised by their test results following their first drive-thru COVID testing site. With the Labor Day weekend coming up he wants to remind everyone to stay focused on continuing to flatten the curve.
Lee says with the virus still in full swing it was important for them to provide people with the opportunity to get tested, especially for those who were unable to travel outside of the county to get tested.
He says whether people had symptoms or not, they were prepared to give out 200 tests but came in just under that.
“We were excited at Evans Memorial to partner with East Georgia Healthcare center on administering the first drive-thru COVID testing site for our county,” Lee said. “In doing so we were able to administer 141 tests. We had 24 positives, so 17 percent of those that were tested were positive, and then the other 83 percent tested negative. We’re hopeful that that was an indicator that, perhaps, we’re going to turn the corner and begin to see a little bit of flattening the curve in this region.”
Lee says health officials have come a long way with trying to trace and reduce the spread of the virus, but there’s much more progress to be made.
“Until we get through the initial, today is the six month period, but until we get through another three months and see the direction that this virus takes, we really need to remain focused on all of the principles involved in social distancing and mask-wearing,” Lee said.
Lee says they are continuing to encourage everyone to continue to wash their hands and not to let their guard down so that they don’t see a spike in cases.
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