Shared from the 4/2/2020 The Providence Journal eEdition

New drive-through testing sites draw 3x expected crowds

80 patients referred by doctors were anticipated on first day; 234 showed up

Picture

Preparing for the day’s testing outside CCRI’s Knight Campus in Warwick are, from left, in white, National Guard Sgt. Tegan Brown, Sgt. Coral Brown, Private Cesar Alvarez and Specialist Brandon Bessette. Sgt. Brandon Young is in camo at right and Specialist Michael Fabrizio is at left in orange vest.

[THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / DAVID DELPOIO]

Picture

Inside a tent at the mobile test site at CCRI Warwick. [THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / DAVID DELPOIO]

Picture
Picture

Preparing for the day’s testing outside CCRI Knight Campus are, from left, National Guard Sgt. Tegan Brown, Sgt. Coral Brown, Private Cesar Alvarez and Specialist Brandon Bessette. Sgt. Brandon Young is in camo at right. [THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / DAVID DELPOIO]

Picture

The National Guard team shows coronavirus testing kits to members of the media on Wednesday morning. [THE PROVIDENCE

JOURNAL /

DAVID DELPOIO]

National Guard Sgt. Tegan Brown, left, and her sister Sgt. Coral Brown, both of Westerly. [THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / DAVID DELPOIO]

WARWICK — Just before 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, four Rhode Island National Guardsmen pulled on layers of personal protective equipment in the parking lot of the Community College of Rhode Island Knight Campus — one of three college campuses now being used as testing sites for the new coronavirus.

Within minutes, the soldiers, Sgts. Tegan and Coral Brown, two sisters from Westerly; Specialist Brandon Bessette, of Providence; and Private Cesar Alvarez, of West Warwick; were covered head-to-toe in white, hooded Tyvek suits, masks, goggles, plastic face shields and three pairs of purple gloves layered one on top of the other.

Patients with referrals from their doctors were due to begin arriving at 9 a.m. to be tested, but a few cars showed up as early as 8:40.

The drive-through testing site at the Community College of Rhode Island opened Tuesday along with two others, at the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College.

Two hundred and thirty-four patients visited the three sites for testing, far exceeding original estimates that about 80 would show up on the first day of operation, said National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Tuttle, who was helping oversee the community college site on Wednesday.

Each of the new sites is equipped to test 300 patients per day, Tuttle said.

Between the testing being conducted at college campuses and at hospitals, the state now has the capacity to test 1,000 people a day, a goal Gov. Gina Raimondo had said she hoped to reach by April 2.

In order to test 300 people during their six-hour shift, the soldiers running the sites have to process one car every two and a half minutes, said Rhode Island National Guard Capt. Richard Fisette.

On Wednesday morning, four registration tents stood in the otherwise nearly empty parking lot. Behind the tents, traffic cones marked two separate lanes for drivers to follow to the testing units.

Two soldiers staff each of the testing tents at a time and rotate out after two-hour shifts, Fisette said. One swabs the patient, who remains in his or her car throughout the process, and the other packages the sample and puts it on ice.

Results are usually returned from the laboratory within about 24 hours, but aren’t sent directly to patients, Tuttle said. They are instead sent to healthcare providers who are in charge of communicating with their patients, he said.

Despite the long and sometimes difficult process many have reported going through to be approved for testing, the test itself takes less than a minute, though it isn’t necessarily pleasant.

“I’ve done it,” Tuttle said of the test, which involves collecting a nasopharyngeal culture by sticking a swab deep into a person’s nostril and down into the throat. “It’s a very awkward, uncomfortable feeling.”

Patients are encouraged to come for testing alone unless they need to be driven by a caretaker, he said.

He also stressed the importance of arriving only after being referred by a primary care physician or community health center. About 50 people went to testing sites on Tuesday without appointments, he said.

“It really is critical for us to abide by that process as citizens of Rhode Island and get an appointment,” he said. mlist@ providence-journal.com

(401) 277-7121 On Twitter: @ madeleine_list

See this article in the e-Edition Here