WSIL -- Doctors at Southern Illinois Healthcare (SIH) say COVID-19 cases are on the rise and urge residents to do their best to stay safe.
In a video conference Wednesday afternoon, SIH revealed it hospitalized 57 patients for COVID-19 in the past week, up from 49 from the week before.
SIH also reported a record number of tests, 4600, and positive cases, 600 from the past week. Since August, SIH has performed more than 30,000 tests thanks to a COVID-19 lab that performs in-house rapid testing.
IMPROVED TURNAROUND TIMES
Rapid testing, in turn, has led to improved turnaround times, according to Diana Biggs, director of laboratory services at SIH.
Biggs says most test results come back in less than 24 hours, lower than the previous wait times of two to five days.
"Occasionally a specimen has to be repeated which may delay [results] by an additional day but that's not the norm" Biggs said. "We're very pleased with the turnaround times."
But SIH is conserving its limited number of rapid tests, says Dr. Joshua Miksanek, medical director of the emergency department at SIH Herrin Hospital.
"We're not doing rapid tests on people that we think are well enough to go home," Miksanek said. "We're reserving those tests to really protect our hospitalized patients. We would have as many as possible... there's just not enough them."
THANKSGIVING BRINGS VIRUS CONCERNS
SIH also advises residents to follow set by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Things like keeping events to small groups, or immediate family, can help mitigate the spread of COVID19. Dr. Miksanek advises people to wear masks if they go out in public in order to 'protect everybody'.
​Dr. Miksanek noted things are taking longer in the Emergency Department because additional cleaning is being performed between patients in the ER ad in other areas.
"Is it necessary to every patient? Probably not," Miksanek said. We've got to be on the side of not infecting anybody with COVID from what we're doing."
SIH 'HOPEFUL' FOR FUTURE VACCINE
As two coronavirus vaccines show early in U.S. tests, experts are remaining cautiously optimistic. There are also questions as to who can get the vaccine and when.
Dr. Marci Moore-Connelley, chief medical officer at SIH, says healthcare workers are likely to receive the first vaccines 'within a short period of time' when supplies are limited.
Dr. Connelley says the early studies and reports on the two vaccines were promising, but "mass vaccination is still going to take many months but [it's] very hopeful about what we're hearing over the last week."
