COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina's health agency, DHEC, is deploying coronavirus rapid-testing devices to parts of the state where testing is still limited.
The agency announced Tuesday its plans for the 15 Abbott ID Now COVID-19 tests that it received from FEMA. They gave the devices to 15 health care facilities last week, and delivered more testing supplies to those facilities this week.
The list of places includes hospitals such as Lexington Medical Center and The Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg and the South Carolina Department of Corrections.
The Abbott ID machines can give results in 15-20 minutes.
“This specialized technology will help us increase testing for those who are most susceptible to this disease and who live in areas of our state where access to COVID-19 testing isn’t easily accessible,” said Dr. Joan Duwve, DHEC’s Director of Public Health. “We wish every health care facility in the state could be provided with these new instruments, but until then, we’ve prioritized their distribution to the places where we hope they can have the biggest and best impact for South Carolinians.”
This is the list of where the machines and supplies have been distributed to:
- Kershaw Health (Kershaw County)
- Self Regional Healthcare (Greenwood County)
- Piedmont Medical Center (York County)
- Regional Medical Center: Orangeburg Hospital (Orangeburg County)
- Bon Secours Health System (Greenville County)
- AnMed Health (Anderson County)
- Aiken Regional Medical Center (Aiken County)
- McCleod Health Clarendon (Clarendon County)
- Spartanburg Regional Healthcare (Spartanburg County)
- Coastal Carolina Hospital (Jasper County)
- MUSC Health Marion (Marion County)
- Williamsburg Regional Hospital (Williamsburg County)
- Lexington Medical Center (Lexington County)
- Al Cannon Detention Center (Charleston County)
- S.C. Department of Corrections
DHEC said it considered several factors in determining where to send these initial rapid-test devices, including regions with high numbers of positive cases; regions with rates above the state average for underlying conditions like diabetes, hypertension and chronic diseases; and a facility’s capacity to use the machines to expand testing to rural communities.
The devices use the same type of nasopharyngeal specimen, or nose swab, as the traditional testing. A health care provider collects the patient’s specimen, enters the specimen into the device, and results are provided in 15-20 minutes.
DHEC has requested more of the rapid-test devices and additional testing supplies but no specific timeline has been provided on when to expect a next shipment.