All of Mississippi’s clinics and hospitals should have the capacity to collect samples for COVID-19 testing, the state’s public-health officials said at a late Friday press conference at the Mississippi Department of Health’s headquarters in Jackson.
The agency said it had spent Friday calling more than 400 clinics, hospitals, and health-care providers to instruct them in proper protocol for screening, collecting and sending swab samples to Mississippi’s Public Health Lab or private labs, both of which have a limited supply of COVID-19 testing kits. Clinics do not need prior approval to send in COVID-19 samples; however, they must adhere to the MSDH guidelines for sample collection and shipping.
As of early afternoon Friday, the Jackson Free Press had not successfully reached a single health-care provider in the Jackson metro capable of scheduling a COVID-19 test. Some institutions, including Family Health Care Clinics, referred the Jackson Free Press back to MSDH, still unaware that they had the capacity to collect samples for COVID-19. MEA Medical Clinic in south Jackson told the Jackson Free Press that they were in the process of figuring out the procedures for COVID-19 testing.
Other institutions, including Baptist Medical Center, St. Dominic’s Memorial Hospital and the University of Mississippi Medical Center, either transferred the Jackson Free Press to lines that did not work, or in UMMC’s case suggested that they did not have the capacity to test at all, then transferring the reporter to 1-877-WST-NILE, which seems to be an old MSDH hotline.
The confusion may lie in a simple misunderstanding: COVID-19 testing does not take place at any of these health-care institutions. Rather, these providers collect a sample swab, store it in a biohazard container and send it to the relevant laboratory, which conducts the test.
A clinic in rural Mississippi reached out to the Jackson Free Press on background Friday, saying that after collecting samples for testing, confusion over the necessary containers for sample delivery to the Public Health Lab forced them to delay testing of potentially infected patients.
It is likely, based on the ongoing efforts of the Mississippi Department of Health and federal disease-control entities, that Monday will bring additional clarity for ground-level employees, physicians and clinics.
On Saturday afternoon, Gov. Tate Reeves—newly returned from a family trip to Spain, which plans to begin a 15-day national lockdown Monday—declared a state of emergency in Mississippi. Reeves announced the creation of the Mississippi Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Planning Steering Committee, intended to assist in statewide decisions about the virus’ spread.
Documents
Do You Need a COVID-19 Test? (English+Spanish)
Follow this JFP flowchart to figure out if you need to be tested for COVID-19 and what to do. Sources: CDC, Mississippi Department of Health
