Amid calls for greater vigilance, Sarasota Memorial Hospital tests patients for COVID-19

Sarasota Memorial Hospital is sending approximately 12 samples to state and federal agencies to test for the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19.

“We have about a dozen patients hospitalized with respiratory illness that have tested negative in the past 24 hours for flu and other viruses that typically circulate this time of year,” hospital spokeswoman Kim Savage said in an email.

Current guidelines require the hospital to screen patients for other illnesses before testing for COVID-19. Sarasota Memorial is calling for changes to the process, she continued.

“We are asking public health officials to expand the testing criteria and expedite the testing process,” Savage said.

On Monday, shortly after the state confirmed two cases in Manatee and Hillsborough counties, Gov. Ron Desantis held a news conference. He said the immediate threat to public health was low, and he asked residents to help by practicing good hygiene and staying home when sick.

“Folks who are middle-aged, younger and healthy tend to weather it fine,” DeSantis said at the time. “It tends to have the most deleterious effect on people with underlying health conditions or who are elderly.”

Florida’s surgeon general, Scott Rivkees, said the Manatee County resident was hospitalized for five days before he was tested and confirmed to have COVID-19. The test followed a series of crucial changes at the federal level.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued broader testing criteria last week, encompassing the Manatee County resident and other previously unidentified people. The Florida Department of Health collected samples on Friday, confirmed the results on Saturday and announced its findings on Sunday.

In another crucial decision, federal agencies allowed state laboratories — including state health department labs in Tampa, Miami and Jacksonville — to begin processing tests.

The changes followed early blunders in the nationwide response to coronavirus. Last month, the CDC sent flawed test kits to laboratories throughout the country, and health officials are now scrambling to catch up.

Without efficient testing, patients could go undetected for days or weeks, spreading the virus among their friends, family and fellow residents, said David Verinder, the chief executive officer of Sarasota Memorial.

“It affects more people in the community,” he said. “The quicker we can identify who has it — quarantine them, treat them and move on — the better.”

Verinder had a conversation with U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, on Tuesday morning. In the news conference that followed, Buchanan said his biggest takeaway was the need for quicker and more frequent testing.

Florida can now process samples in its own laboratories, instead of sending the kits to an out-of-state lab and dealing with a nationwide backlog. The process could be enhanced, Buchanan said, by allowing Sarasota Memorial or other local hospitals to process the samples.

With the proper training, equipment and authority, Verinder said his hospital could handle the added responsibility.

Buchanan is calling for more testing locations and greater access to test kits, along with the development of a kit that offers speedier results. He discussed the issue with congressional leaders in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday afternoon, according to an email from his spokeswoman, Chloe Conboy.

“He also plans to push for immediate passage of a funding bill that will provide Florida with the resources it needs to manage the spread of COVID-19,” she wrote. “It’s important for the people of Sarasota, Manatee and Hillsborough counties to have confidence that everything is being done to protect them and that they also are being kept fully informed of all developments.”

At the hospital, patients with relevant symptoms — including coughing, fever or shortness of breath — are kept in a negative-pressure room at the hospital, said James Fiorica, the chief medical officer at Sarasota Memorial. Such rooms prevent contaminated air from leaving the space.

Donning a gown and face mask, hospital employees collect samples and send them to a state laboratory. Meanwhile, the patient remains isolated, awaiting the test results. As an alternative, many residents could self-isolate at home for 14 days, Fiorica continued.

Isolated residents can seek guidance from their county health departments, and possible testing if their symptoms worsen.

“You’d be more comfortable sitting at home than sitting in an isolation room,” Fiorica said.

This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 2:59 PM.