Although President Joe Biden admitted this week his administration’s efforts to make COVID-19 testing readily available have fallen short, a Medical Center Hospital official said there are currently no such issues in Ector County.
Amanda Everett, MCH emergency management coordinator, said the hospital’s emergency department and urgent care facilities have plenty of PCR tests, rapid tests and antibody tests.
“So far we’re doing good. All of our orders and allocations are coming in as scheduled. We have plenty of swabs available as well as viral (transport) media so we’re doing a good job,” Everett said.
In addition, Everett said those who are struggling financially are still able to obtain a free COVID test at the clinic set up at Second Street and Grant Avenue by the City of Odessa and the state. The clinics run from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
At-home testing kits are also still readily available at local pharmacies, she said.
“I don’t have a percentage, but I know that if it says it’s positive, it’s positive. They are giving false negatives just because they might be improperly doing the test or it might be too early in the illness to pick it up, but if it’s positive, it’s really positive,” Everett said of the home testing kits.
On Monday, Biden told the nation’s governors the steps he took earlier this year to scale up testing capacity for COVID-19 weren’t enough to meet demand thanks to the highly transmissible Omicron variant sweeping the country.
“It’s not enough. It’s clearly not enough. If we’d have known, we’d have gone harder, quicker if we could have,” he said while joining a weekly virtual meeting between state leaders and members of his COVID-19 response team.
With testing readily available within Ector County, Everett said she hopes people will take full advantage.
“I absolutely am a fan of getting tested because we are still trying to stop the spread,” Everett said. “Yes, I do understand some people have the mindset that it’s a mild illness and if anyone gets it from you it’s mild, but the problem is you just don’t know. You might give it to someone who has an underlying condition that they didn’t even know about and it really brings it to the forefront and that’s what gets them a trip to the hospital.”
The message hasn’t changed since the early days of the virus last year, Everett said. People need to get tested, self-isolate, wash their hands and get vaccinated.
Last week, there were 31 COVID patients at Medical Center Hospital and as of Tuesday there were 45, Everett said, attributing the increase to Christmas-related gatherings.
Of the 15 patients in critical condition, 10 were on ventilators and nine of those were unvaccinated.
While the hospital had more than 70 COVID patients at this point last year, Everett noted the circumstances at the hospital have varied with every variant and there’s no predicting what impact Omicron will have on the community.
When COVID-19 first struck, the number of cases spiked sharply and eventually tapered off, but with Delta, the number of hospitalized patients shot from the teens up to nearly 100 and fell off sharply after two weeks, she said.
“We really don’t know how this variant is going to treat us,” Everett said.
The hospital tests can only tell doctors if patients have COVID; they can’t determine what variant of the virus they have and while a sampling of cases are sent to a bioterrorism lab, they’re running about a month behind on results, she said.
“I’m sure that Omicron is here, we just don’t have confirmation yet,” Everett said.
Whatever happens, Everett said the hospital has done what it can to prepare.
“As far as we can tell we’re in a decent spot, our (personal protective equipment) levels are good, we already have surge plans and we have other plans on top of that,” Everett said. “The only thing we’re nervous about is our staff. We have space within our hospital to expand, but a bed is only a bed if you don’t have somebody to care for the person in it.”
Toward that end, Everett said the hospital has created “oasis rooms” for staff members to decompress, snack and relax in massage chairs. In addition, support staff and community members are doing what they can to boost morale, including giving snacks, cards and words of encouragement. They’ve also written messages in chalk on the hospital’s sidewalks and gathered to clap for people arriving for their shifts.
“We’ve come out of two (variants) so we’re tired, but we’re still here,” Everett said. “Everyone is really trying to keep people’s morale up and keep them in good spirits because we’re all tired, but we remember our purpose.”
