Bryan Health now able to do in-house COVID-19 testing

Bryan Health officials announced Thursday they now have the capability to do in-house COVID-19 testing. 

Bryan Health officials announced Thursday they now have the capability to do in-house COVID-19 testing.

The testing began Wednesday with five patients.

Bryan Medical Center CEO John Woodrich said the testing is currently focused on severely ill in-patients.

Bryan has 200 kits currently available with orders out for more. When they get more supplies, they’ll be able to do more tests.

Woodrich said Bryan currently has the capacity to test 110 people per day at its drive-thru clinic. He said only about 60 people have been going each day, and encouraged more people to sign up if they feel the need to be tested.

Bryan’s result turnaround time has also dropped to about two-and-a-half hours. However, Woodrich said because of the volume of testing it will likely take longer than that for patients to actually receive their results. Bryan had previously been returning results in two days or so.

“We’re seeing a tremendous difference,” Woodrich said.

Bryan currently has seven coronavirus-positive in-house patients, four of which are from Lancaster County and three of which are on ventilators. Bryan has seen 74 positive tests overall.