“We have five cases here in Kent County at this time that have been diagnosed. I want to put a big asterisk on that because we know full well that there are far more cases than those five.”
That’s Adam London head of the Kent County Health Department speaking the Grand Rapids City Commissioners on Tuesday.
“The testing criteria has been very rigid. The number of tests have been very limited from the very beginning and we know that there are many people who are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic that have this.”
In Grand Rapids, Spectrum Health is offering drive through testing but it is only offered to those who have been pre-screened and have a doctor’s order according to Spectrum Health officials.
“So we don’t create a free for all. We have very limited places where testing can be done. We want to make sure we are protecting our healthcare workers from everyone who has a cough or a fever from showing up at the doctor’s office.”
According to London, currently prescreening are taking place via phone calls to doctor’s office, the Spectrum Health’s Covid19 hotline at 616-391-2380, and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services coronavirus hotline at 18885356136.