COLUMBIA, S.C. — COVID-19 testing sites are becoming more available around the Midlands.
Prisma Health held a drive-thru test site Friday and Saturday in Columbia.
Medical professionals from Prisma Health as well as National Guard officers teamed up to hold a drive-thru testing site at Watkins-Nance Elementary School Saturday.
“Patients will come up to our tents, nurses will ask them a series of questions, we’ll explain the testing process to them," Prisma nurse Kirsten Smith said, "it’s a nasopharyngeal swab, it goes a little bit further up just one side of their nose than a normal nasal swab would-it’s a little bit uncomfortable but its quick and easy.”
Test results come back within 48-72 hours and a call center informs people who came of their results.
“We have a clinical team where all they do is call back results," Smith explains, "they answer any questions that patients may have, and they’ll give them further instructions depending on what their results may have been.”
Swabs are placed in tubes, double bagged and then put in coolers where lab techs come by periodically to pick them up.
Over 300 cars came through this site to be tested between Friday and Saturday.
Sites like these are free of charge and are used for people who may not have access to testing otherwise. More testing sites will be available throughout the coming weeks.
