Free COVID-19 Testing Clinic Turns Up Five New Cases
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WHEELING - The Wheeling-Ohio County Health Department offered free COVID-19 testing for locals on Friday and Saturday in which more than 550 people came to be tested -- with less than 1% of people testing positive.
Special testing clinics that were held at Laughlin Chapel in Wheeling saw 558 tests conducted, which resulted in five positive results.
Three are Ohio County residents, while the other two individuals who tested positive live in Marshall and Belmont counties.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases in Ohio County to 52, with one confirmed death. Health Administrator Howard Gamble said the three Ohio County residents were from all across the county, rather than being from one area.
Gamble said that the low rate of infection across hundreds of tests was a good, low rate, but for the five people diagnosed with COVID-19 and the health department, it still meant a challenge to overcome and quarantine the spread of disease.
"One percent is good, but all five of those people have family who are worried," Gamble said. each one has to be seen as an individual case of a novel disease we have no treatment for, we have no vaccine. ... It's at a large, 30,000 foot perspective that it looks great, but each one of those cases is a person who has concerns now with family, work, 'What do I do if I develop symptoms?' It's nice, but each is a case that we're concerned with.
"Each of those cases can have a page and a half of contacts, a page and a half of calling to individuals to see if they have symptoms."
The testing done at Laughlin Chapel was part of a high-density testing operation across the state in partnership with the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Herbert Henderson Office of Minority Affairs. All were welcome to participate, though the clinics were held in areas with larger minority populations, free of charge and without requiring proof of insurance. Other clinics were held in Harrison and McDowell counties.
Testing consults of using swabs, which Gamble said were the size of Q-tips, which swab either the nose or the cheek -- no longer requiring swabs from deep inside the nasal cavity. Gamble described the process as "relatively painless" and said results came back around a day later, which he applauded LabCorp for the fast turnaround, especially considering their workload.
"It went well, and we thank our partners who all pitched in for it," Gamble said.