Many residents in Newton County were tested for the coronavirus without them having to go inside a medical facility.
One clinic was held Thursday in the parking lot of the former Newton Community Hospital on Hwy. 15. Another was held Saturday in the parking lot of Clarke-Venable Baptist Church.
Lackey Memorial Hospital in Forest, which provided the test site at the former Newton hospital, will also conduct another one from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday.
Sidney Sawyer, CEO of Lackey Memorial Hospital, said he is using their staff from the clinic next door to the former hospital to run the clinic. He said anyone who wishes to be tested will need to schedule an appointment by calling 601-540-0395 prior to coming to the hospital.
“If you will call that number, they will ask you a few questions and get you in the computer and give you an appointment time,” Sawyer said. “This clinic is strictly for those who symptoms of the COVID-19 virus which I’m sure most of you already know what they are, but it’s coughing, fever, shortness of breath or if you’ve had exposure to someone that’s had it.”
Sawyer said to stay in your vehicle to protect yourself and others from the coronavirus, and follow the directions. He also said to doublecheck your contact information so that the hospital can contact you with the results of the test.
“Once you’ve been tested, we will ask you to stay on the premises for further information,” Sawyer said. “We may also test you for flu. We may test you for strep. We can let you know the results of those tests within a few minutes. So you’ll be asked to wait. If those test positive, then you may not get tested for COVID. If you have the flu, we might just tell you to quarantine yourself for 14 days anyway.”
Once you’ve been tested and release, they will likely to tell you to go home and quarantine yourself until the results of the test are determined.
“It may take three days or it may take up to five days,” Sawyer said. “We will call you with your results whether it’s positive or negative. If it’s positive, you are probably gonna get calls from us and the health department and maybe even a call directly from your provider if it’s different from one of our providers. We will notify them as well.”
He said that it is only a clinic, and they may recommend you go to an emergency room or wait until further tests are done.
“We want you to use this service,” Sawyer said. “We will provide more days if we see there is a need.”
Sawyer said they have already tested more than 800 people in Scott County, which currently has the third most cases in the state.
The clinic at Clarke-Venable was set up by C-Spire and University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. As of press time, it was unknown if they were planning to schedule another mobile clinic.
