South Korea has been operating drive-through testing facilities since February; there, the speedy clinics have helped Korean health officials conduct up to 15,000 tests a day, and this way of testing is credited with helping slow the spread of COVID-19 and reducing deaths. Drive-through testing alone won’t rid us of COVID-19, but it’s an important step toward curbing the pandemic, for multiple reasons.
The Koper Community Health Centre, one of the 16 coronavirus testing points in Slovenia, has introduced the country’s first drive-in system for taking swabs from potentially infected persons to significantly reduce the time needed for a single test.
- Find place where cars can stop safely
- Reduce speed signalisation
- Measure temperature or Medical staff wearing protective suits take samples
- Let them go
In addition to saving time for employees and patients – one test takes 10 instead of 30 minutes – the centre also saves on protective equipment, Ljubica Kolander Bizjak, the director of the centre, has told the STA.
Under the new system, a person who suspects that they are infected contacts their personal physician, who decides if they should be tested. The person then contacts the community health centre and gets a date for the test.
- contact their personal physician, who decides if they should be tested
- contacts the community health centre and gets a date for the test.
- drives to a dedicated parking
- Crack window and get swabbed
- Get results in 3 days
The person then drives to a dedicated parking and is swabbed, and then instructed to remain self-isolated until the results of the test are known.
The drive in testing has been introduced on proposal from employees, who were taking samples in a designated container, where the process took 30 minutes per person, as the container needs to be ventilated for at least 15 minutes and sanitised.
Kolander Bizjak said that drive-in testing was performed in two locations in Koper. The average daily number is 40, but the number sometimes reaches 60, and if a test would take 30 minutes, the system would get “clogged”, she added.
Sources:
Slovenia:
– https://www.total-slovenia-news.com/politics/5973-covid-19-slovenia
– se že kregajo: https://regionalgoriska.si/novica/prvo-drive-in-testiranje-na-obali-v-zd-piran-v-kopru-le-povzeli-po-zacetnem-nestrinjanju
NY: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/nyregion/new-rochelle-coronavirus-testing.html
Going to a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site? Here’s a step-by-step look at what to expect: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/20/drive-thru-coronavirus-testing-step-step-look-what-expect/2873324001/
South Korea: https://www.businessinsider.com/south-korea-launches-drive-thru-coronavirus-testing-facilities-as-demand-soars-2020-2 and https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/02/asia/coronavirus-drive-through-south-korea-hnk-intl/index.html
Contacts:
– Ljubica Kolander Bizjak, strokovna direktorica ZD Koper
– Marko Grdina, pomočnik direktorja za področje zdravstvene nege, ZD Piran
