Officials: Assume virus could be anywhere

Eleven people have tested positive for COVID-19 on the Palouse.

But limited testing kits, changing guidelines for testing and the possibility of asymptomatic people walking the streets mean the actual number of positive cases is much higher.

Local health officials want residents to assume the virus could be anywhere.

“The mindset should be that anyone could have it,” Whitman County Public Health Director Troy Henderson said.

Peter Mundt, Gritman Medical Center’s director of community relations and marketing, said hospital employees have been conducting tests multiple times per day for several weeks.

But test kits nationwide are in short supply, and patients must meet certain state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria before they will be tested.

Gritman Chief Medical Officer John Brown said the testing criteria the hospital adheres to has evolved slightly since testing started about one month ago.

According to an email from Mundt, Gritman’s current testing criteria, subject to change, include meeting one or more of the following requirements: COVID-19 symptoms, including a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher, cough and shortness of breath; hospitalized patients; health care facility workers with symptoms; patients in long-term care facilities with symptoms; patients 65 and older with symptoms; patients with underlying health conditions with symptoms; and first responders with symptoms.

To his knowledge, Brown said no one who has met the criteria at the time has been turned away for testing.

Mundt said that questions regarding the number of tests performed should be directed to the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

Tara Macke, Public Health-Idaho North Central District public information officer, said in an email that the district, which includes Latah, Nez Perce, Lewis, Clearwater and Idaho counties, cannot provide the number of patients who have been tested in the district.

She wrote many people are tested throughout the district and state with testing specimens sent to four different laboratories.

Three of the labs are large commercial labs that only provide minimal data on positive cases. Medical providers submit samples daily to labs and may or may not notify Public Health prior to submission, Macke wrote.

There are 12 confirmed cases and two deaths from the virus in the North Central District.While Gritman is the primary testing site in Latah County, Henderson said there are about six entities that test for the coronavirus in Whitman County. Latah County’s first confirmed positive test for COVID-19 was Wednesday.

Ten positive cases and at least 222 negative cases have been confirmed in Whitman County.

Just like at Gritman, Henderson said those who test for the virus in Whitman County follow state and federal guidelines, which change almost daily. Test kit numbers also determine who gets tested and who does not.

“We got a pretty good supply of test kits a few days ago after going a week or so without any and getting quite low,” Henderson said. “And as you get lower, people are more stringent with who they will test.”

Pullman Regional Hospital’s Triage and Testing Center tests people in the “at-risk category” with symptoms of COVID-19 and “any person with mild COVID-19-like symptoms,” according to the hospital’s website. Testing criteria will continue to be modified as testing supplies allow, the website stated.

Henderson said the focus of testing in Whitman County is on certain groups, such as first responders, doctors, nurses and residents of long-term care and assisted living facilities.

He said it would take testing hundreds of county residents to gain a more accurate feel for how many people have the virus in Whitman County.

For questions about symptoms, testing and home treatment options, call the Gritman COVID-19 Hotline at (208) 883-4109. People can also text COVID19 to (208) 295-5080 to get a link to Gritman’s online assessment and symptom checker tool. It will automatically connect a person’s results to one of the nurses working at the Gritman COVID-19 Hotline.

Mundt said people with symptoms can also call a primary care provider. Many Gritman and Moscow Family Medicine providers have established telehealth visits with patients.

Other helpful links include gritman.org/coronavirus, www.pullmanregional.org, whitmancountypublichealth.org/covid-19.html and idahopublichealth.com/district-2/novel-coronavirus.

Garrett Cabeza can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to gcabeza@dnews.com.