The big health systems on either side of South Dakota are taking opposite approaches to the public visibility of drive-through sampling for COVID-19, which is the disease caused by the coronavirus.
In western South Dakota, Monument Health has publicly announced the location of a drive-through sampling site.
In eastern South Dakota, both the Avera and Sanford health systems are declining to publicly reveal the location of their drive-through sampling sites.
Spokespeople for Avera and Sanford said the health systems are worried about being overwhelmed by people seeking sampling without a physician’s referral. Supplies for testing the samples are scarce, so sampling everywhere is being limited to people whose physicians determine they need it.
But in Rapid City, Monument Health officials say only a few people have stopped at their drive-through site without being sent there by a physician.
“We just direct them as they drive up to call our hotline number and get the appropriate screening,” said Michelle Stephens, vice president of operations for Monument Health. “So it hasn’t been an issue.”
That hotline number is (800) 279-1466.
Monument Health’s Rapid City sampling site is in the parking lot of an urgent care clinic on Jackson Boulevard, which is one of the busiest streets in Rapid City. Temporary signs clearly advertise the spot as the location of drive-through sampling.
Megan Ball, a medical laboratory scientist, was staffing the site Wednesday. When patients drive up, they find Ball dressed in protective gear. She confirms their identity and inserts what amounts to an extra-long Q-tip up their nose to obtain a sample. Patients tell Ball it feels like the Q-tip is “kinda touching your brain.”
“Their eyes water and they kind of cough,” Ball said. “They don't like it. It’s very uncomfortable.’”
But it’s over in a moment. The whole visit takes about 5 minutes. The drive-through sampling began Monday in Rapid City, and Stephens said a total of about 10 people had been sampled there as of midday Wednesday.
Stephens said Monument Health is planning to open another drive-through sampling site this week in Spearfish.
