Are coronavirus test result delays keeping Horry County’s reported cases lower?
Lengthy delays in obtaining coronavirus test results could be keeping Horry County’s case numbers artificially lower than other counties in South Carolina.
As of Tuesday, 42 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Horry County have been reported to the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. That number is the 11th most in the state despite having the fourth highest population.
DHEC officials recently announced that they’ve been able to clear a backlog of pending tests and are now able to get results in 24-36 hours, but some hospitals are using private labs that may take longer.
Tidelands Health has been sending tests to DHEC and LabCorp, according to spokeswoman Dawn Bryant, with DHEC getting results to them in 4-5 days, while LabCorp has taken longer than two weeks in some instances.
“Turnaround time for lab testing continues to be a nationwide challenge, as labs work to respond to this pandemic,” Bryant wrote.
Grand Strand Health and Conway Medical Center officials both said they use private labs that have been able to get them results within 24-48 hours, while a McLeod Health spokeswoman said they use an independent lab but did not provide any specific time frame for getting results.
DHEC officials also stated during a recent news conference that they are not tracking how many healthcare workers have tested positive for coronavirus, so The Sun News asked all the local hospitals.
Two employees at Tidelands have tested positive, according to Bryant, who added they are following all DHEC and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to quarantine employees when necessary.
Grand Strand Health and Conway Medical Centers officials both said no employees have tested positive, while McLeod Health spokeswoman Tracy Stanton claimed she couldn’t release that information due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which protects patients’ privacy, but doesn’t actually prevent healthcare systems from releasing the number of infected people, as evidenced by DHEC’s daily updates.
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 1:02 PM.
