Press release from CommunityLab:
Madison Health & Rehabilitation, a skilled nursing facility in Madison County, has partnered with CommunityLab for weekly COVID-19 surveillance testing of about 95 staff members.
According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, long-term care facilities (including skilled nursing facilities) are at high risk for SARS-CoV-2 spreading among their residents due to their congregate nature and population served. If infected with SARS-CoV-2, skilled nursing facility residents—often older adults with underlying medical conditions—are at increased risk for severe illness.
“The frequency of COVID-19 testing for our staff depends on the percent positivity rate for the county,” said Haley Niebes, Administration at Madison Health & Rehabilitation. “If the positivity rate in the county is less than 10 percent, then we test our staff weekly. That is where we are right now. However, if it drops below 5 percent, then we can test once monthly.”
The COVID-19 testing performed by CommunityLab is PCR testing via nasopharyngeal swab collection. CommunityLab manages a courier service to pick-up samples from Madison Health & Rehab and quickly deliver the specimens to its lab in Arden for processing the results.
Niebes stated that one of the key reasons she decided to partner with CommunityLab was due to its courier service for specimen pick-up which mitigated any potential hiccups of working with a third-party courier service like Fedex.
“We typically get results from CommunityLab in less than 24 hours which is a huge plus,” said Niebes. “Getting fast results can possibly help save someone’s life.”
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