Bryan Health discusses response plan if school virus outbreak occurs

Bryan Health officials on Tuesday said they would be ready to handle a surge of COVID-19 cases if an outbreak occurred at a school. 

Bryan Health officials on Tuesday said they would be ready to handle a surge of COVID-19 cases if an outbreak occurred at a school.

John Woodrich, CEO of Bryan Medical Center, said Bryan would work with the Lincoln Lancaster County Health Department to determine what actions would need to be taken. Possible options include expanding hours at Bryan’s drive-thru clinic or utilizing their mobile testing unit.

As far as returning test results, Woodrich said right now tests are coming back within two days. He cautioned that time could increase if there was an influx of cases that stressed labs.

“As all schools open across the United States, if there happens to be outbreaks we can see these outside labs getting overwhelmed,” he said.

The vast majority of tests done at Bryan facilities go to an outside lab. They do have two different types of rapid response tests in house, however those are reserved for severely sick inpatients, healthcare workers and first responders.

Even if an outbreak were to occur, Bryan officials said they’re not concerned about running out of swabs for their standard tests.