National Guard headed to Pullman to help with COVID-19 testing at WSU

The National Guard will begin testing Washington State University students and employees for COVID-19 next week in an effort to increase testing capacity in Pullman.

Cougar Health Services medical director Bonnie de Vries told community leaders Tuesday that WSU has been slow in getting its own testing operations running. However, Cougar Health Services started testing students Monday and will receive additional help from a National Guard unit.

“We’re trying to just increase capacity as much as we can and hoping that, especially with the National Guard, that after a week or so we will have enough volume of testing to have a better idea of what’s happening in our community,” she said.

Colleen Kerr, of WSU Government Relations, said the National Guard can stay in Pullman as long as the university wants it too. The unit will come from Yakima and is being funded by FEMA. A representative from the unit is expected on campus Wednesday to work out details for next week's arrival.

Kerr also said there is an effort to hire a private company to test WSU students through the upcoming Labor Day weekend.

WSU on Friday announced it is providing mobile testing services by dispatching the William A. Crosetto Mobile Health Care Unit to campus. De Vries said the mobile unit will be parked on campus Wednesday near the president’s mansion for any unscheduled walk-up or drive-up student testing.

The spike in positive COVID-19 cases in Whitman County has largely been attributed to WSU students. The university’s efforts to increase testing on campus are intended to ease the burden of other testing centers around the area.

Hannah Kimball, of Pullman Regional Hospital, said PRH has administered more than 1,000 tests in the past week. The majority of those were WSU students, she said.

Palouse Medical has administered approximately 30-40 tests a day.

Ben Stone, of the Whitman County Health Department, said the turnaround time to get results from the tests has increased recently and can take up to three days.

“We’re working to make sure that we can keep that number down,” he said. “If it goes much past 72 hours it really decreases the effectiveness of contact tracing.”

Frank Harrill, of Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, said SEL has started testing employees through its health clinics in Pullman and Lewiston.

Stone on Tuesday addressed the possibility of Whitman County going back to Phase 2 of Washington’s phased reopening plan. It is currently in Phase 3.

Stone said a broad-scale phased approach to addressing the rise in COVID-19 cases would not be as effective as targeting the specific causes of the spread.

He said with the increase of testing and contact tracing will allow health officials to see where the most effective actions can be taken. He also noted that the 10-person gathering limit set by Gov. Jay Inslee is already very low and would not change in Phase 2

Pullman Police Department Chief Gary Jenkins said the department will approach the Pullman City Council to amend a city ordinance so that it can enforce COVID-19 rules differently.

The department has been issuing infractions to people who host parties where mask and social distancing rules are violated. A change in the ordinance would allow officers to issue infractions to people attending the parties as well.

“Everyone knows the rules,” Jenkins said. “When we pull up to these parties, people start running away. So it’s clear they’re aware of what the requirements are.”