Hospitals are taking a number of steps to ensure the safety of workers and patients as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread.
A tent has gone up outside Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids where patients with mild to severe respiratory symptoms can be tested after first contacting their doctor.
KCRG-TV 9 reports that patients are asked a number of questions similar to if a patient would go inside the hospital, but a little more stringent. After sanitizing their hands, they go into a room with back curtains where they can be tested for a number of different respiratory diseases including influenza and COVID-19.
“We take a nasopharyngeal swab and it’s applied through the nose,” Dr. Matthew Aucutt told KCRG-TV 9. “It goes pretty far back. We then send it to the Iowa Department of Public Health for testing."
Aucutt says inside the tent is like an emergency room for patients with respiratory issues. It will help keep patients who could potentially have the virus away from others who need to be seen and don’t have symptoms.
A doctor will visit the patient, and if the symptoms are very serious they move to another room inside of the hospital but away from others. “People are doing a good job staying away,” Aucutt says. “The number of people who are really sick with COVID symptoms are gradually increasing.”
A doctor will continue to evaluate the patient and make the decision if they can go home or if they will be sent to the 8th floor to wait for the test results to come back.
“The Iowa DPH usually has results in 24 hours,” Aucutt tells KCRG-TV 9.
If the test comes back positive, patients will be moved to rooms that are specially equipped to keep the virus contained in each room.
“We’re trying to protect everybody from the virus with social distancing and staying home,” Aucutt says. “All of those measures are to stop the spread of this infection. This is just another step that we have taken to ensure the safety of our patients and the safety of the community.”
Cedar Rapids is in Linn County, which has the most cases of coronavirus in Iowa with 94.