Cole County has shelved plans to create a single COVID-19 testing site for the county.
Cole County Health Department Director Kristi Campbell sent out an email Wednesday to representatives of Capital Region Medical Center, St. Mary's Hospital, Jefferson City Medical Group and Community Health Center regarding the decision.
"After further discussion about the uncertainty of the current commitment levels and future requirements of COVID-19 testing, Cole County will not be pursuing an agreement for an integrated testing site at this time," the email stated.
Campbell later issued a followup news release, saying, "Although Cole County will not be proceeding with an integrated testing site at this time, COVID testing is still available for patients through their primary care physicians.
"The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has advised physicians to test anyone who they feel it is appropriate for, regardless of symptoms. The Cole County Health Department will continue to work with MODHSS and our community partners to ensure that testing is available in Cole County."
Both Jefferson City hospitals stated they would continue offering their mobile testing sites.
"At this time, we do not anticipate discontinuing our mobile testing site as we are committed to the health and wellbeing of our community," Capital Region spokesperson Lindsay Huhman said. "Since the opening of our site, we have completed more than 3,500 tests for individuals across our service area. Capital Region Medical Center is certainly open to collaborating with other health care organizations, including the county health department, to operate an integrated testing site and is open to further discussion if the opportunity comes back to the table."
St. Mary's spokesperson Jessica Royston said: "SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital fully supports the Cole County Health Department and its efforts to expand testing capabilities in our area. We are committed to continuing the dialogue around an integrated testing site and working with the other partner organizations to talk through the necessary logistics. We will continue to offer drive thru testing at the hospital for those with a physician's order."
The former Cole County Health Department on Industrial Drive was chosen as the testing site last week. Since that time, work has been done to clean up the facility and have the amenities in place for it to be operational.
Eastern District Commissioner Jeff Hoelscher had suggested the building as the site location. Going into this week, he said Wednesday, he had been leaning toward having the county doing the testing.
"However, as we got more information, I saw what we were going to need to keep this facility open; it was much more than I thought," Hoelscher said.
During Tuesday's Cole County Commission meeting, Campbell said she was notified Monday night by state officials who said they would like to have the county be able to do testing for anyone who wanted it.
However, Campbell said they aren't able to do that right now. Had they been able to get this site in place, Campbell said. it would probably be considered phase one of COVID testing in the county - with testing only done for those with a doctors' order.
The second phase, testing all persons for COVID, would probably come in the fall since federal and state health officials believe there could be another increase in cases.
"If it costs $100 a test and we test half of our population, that's around 40,000, that's $4 milllion," Hoelscher said. "You don't know how many could come in every day, and there has to be money for staff, too."
Figures sent out by Campbell on Tuesday indicated the costs for staffing, personal protective equipment and other costs related to manning the site were estimated to be more than $212,000 and that would be through the end of the year.
Since last month, the health care providers have been considering ways to continue local testing because they said it is key to controlling the potential for an uptick in COVID-19 cases.
The parties involved said one testing site would reduce costs for staffing and personal protective equipment. They also noted the need for a solution to the strain on those manning the outdoor sites, as they have to wear full PPE for long periods of time during the high heat and humidity of summer weather.
Under the one-site plan, Campbell said, a CRMC representative would have registered their patients and a St. Mary's representative would have registered their patients, along with two clinical nurses to administer tests. As is done currently at the hospitals, the patients would drive through a tent and be tested in their vehicles.
CRMC and St. Mary's continue to do COVID-19 testing, and all patients scheduled to have an elective procedure at these facilities must be tested for the coronavirus. However, the number of those going to the facilities to exclusively be tested for the virus is decreasing.
Commissioners also noted the county continues to currently see few active cases of COVID-19. As of Wednesday afternoon, the county only has one active case of COVID-19. There have been 57 cases in the county since the pandemic began in March, with one death.
Presiding Commissioner Sam Bushman, who sits on the board of Capital Region Medical Center, did stay in commission meetings during discussions about the integrated testing site. Western District Commissioner Kris Scheperle expressed concerns Bushman's presence due to his ties to Capital Region.
On Wednesday, Bushman and Scheperle declined to comment about the site announcement. However, Bushman said he would have abstained from voting if they had reached the point where a vote would have been needed.
County officials had said they could have used funds from the $9 million the county received from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to pay for the site. However, commissioners have said federal officials have yet to make clear how exactly the county can use the funds.
"I didn't want to hold this up, but I think we need to get more answers," Hoeslscher said. "You can't do stuff too fast in government, and sometimes you have to slow the pony down."