PEORIA, Ill. — Two people from Peoria County have been tested for COVID-19. Both tests were negative.
Monica Hendrickson with the Peoria County Health Department, said that two other tests are still pending.
“However, there is ongoing contact tracing. We’re talking to individuals that have returned from abroad, or might have traveled from areas that are considered of high-risk,” Hendrickson said. “Locally we had done over 10 individuals, and that continues to grow as this response continues throughout our nation.”
Dr. Gregg Stoner, Medical Director for Peoria City/County Health Department, explained what they look for from an individual in regards to COVID-19.
“The things that we look for is someone with a travel history, of course, and people that have symptoms of high fever and cough, or shortness of breath,” Stoner said.
Officials are recommending that individuals who are sick to call their health care provider before they go to the doctors office and it is the doctor’s choice on whether to test for COVID-19.
“The idea is to sort out which people actually need the COVID-19 testing, and to become labeled as persons under investigation,” Stoner said.
When a health care provider considers a patient qualified to test for COVID-19, they will perform a nasal swab and an oral swab.
“And those are put in viral transport media, and the health department is contacted to see if they will run that COVID-19 test,” Stoner said. “Then, they are assigned a number and those samples can be brought in, and then analyzed at one of three [labs].
The three testing labs in Illinois are located in Chicago, Springfield, and Carbondale.
Dr. Samer Sader with UnityPoint Health, said this kind of situation involves managing resources to be able to care for those infected.
“And the goal of what the health department is doing, the goal of what the nation is doing, is try to lower the peak of the cases. So, we are not trying to eliminate the COVID-19 virus and have zero infections, we know that is not a realistic goal,” Sader said.
Sader said imagine if the city has 100 ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds that are used for other medical issues such as influenza, heart attacks, and strokes, and 80 beds are normally used. Then, imagine the virus spreads and adds 50-100 more beds needed.
“In that case, we really lose patients because we do not have the capacity to care for them,” Sader said.
Large events being canceled, less people visiting the hospital, less people visiting nursing homes, and keeping a social distance helps keep the number of positive cases lower.
“Meaning that yes, we will get infections, but we may not get the total number very high over a short period of time,” Sader said. “If we accomplish that, the chances that the mortality rate will be significantly lower.”
The Peoria County Health Department will give updates every weekday.
