Myrtle Beach’s July 4th COVID-19 case spike linked to delays in testing results
Saturday’s record high for coronavirus cases in a single day may have been an aberration impacted by delays in labs processing tests.
While most people were celebrating the July Fourth holiday, state health officials put out their daily news release confirming 358 new Horry COVID-19 cases, which is more than 100 cases higher than any other day and the highest daily total for any county outside Charleston, which reported 375 cases on June 30.
However, a sizable portion of that spike can likely be traced to the county’s largest free testing clinic to date — with testing supplies for up to 2,500 people — held June 26 by Tidelands Health at Coastal Carolina University, a spokeswoman said.
Tidelands’ Dawn Bryant confirmed that results from that testing clinic were received late Thursday and Friday from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control lab.
Those tests confirmed a total of 323 COVID-19 cases, though Bryant was unable to know how many were reported Thursday versus Friday, for a positive rate of about 13 percent. The statewide total positive rate Saturday was 19.7 percent, according to DHEC.
Bryant noted participants are advised that results could take up to five business days to receive, so these results were received within the anticipated timeframe, though that estimate doesn’t coincide with DHEC’s news releases, which state that the public lab is operating seven days a week, and it typically provides results within 24-48 hours. The releases also point out that “a recent increase in testing may lead to a delay of one to two days.”
DHEC officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Delays in receiving DHEC lab results from large-scale testing clinics have been reported elsewhere in the state, but the delays are also becoming an issue at private labs, much the same way delays were expected when testing in the U.S. first began due to a lack of materials.
Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, two of the nation’s largest private labs handling COVID-19 testing, both released statements recently that an increase in demand is leading to delays in reporting results.
Quest Diagnostics is currently taking 3-5 days to process testing results for most of the population, according to its statement, while LabCorp stated that results will take 1-2 days longer than the typical timeframe, which is 1-2 days.
Both noted that the turnaround time is quicker for priority patients, which include hospitalized patients and healthcare workers.
Conway Medical Center, which uses Quest to process its coronavirus tests, is seeing an average turnaround time of less than three days, according to spokewoman Allyson Floyd.
Grand Strand Medical Center uses a combination of in-house testing — with results returned within 24 hours — and the DHEC public lab or a private lab when they exhaust their own testing supply, according to spokeswoman Katie Maclay. Results from DHEC and the private lab are taking 2-8 days for results, she noted.
Maclay added that Grand Strand Medical Center is working to bring an additional source of testing inside the hospital.
