Mobile COVID-19 screening Egyptian Health Department provides testing

SHAWNEETOWN - Egyptian Health Department offered two mobile COVID-19 testing sites Tuesday in Gallatin and White counties.

The mobile testing allowed anyone who wished to have a test to do so at no cost.

Drivers formed a line in their vehicles and those being tested were required to provide basic information.

Then, testing personnel swabbed the person being tested with an anterior nasal swab. That particular type of swab only requires the tip of the swab to be inserted into the nostrils and is not uncomfortable.

From the time a car joined the line of other cars until testing was completed, the entire process took eight to 10 minutes.

Egyptian Health Department's public health administrator Jamie Byrd said participation had been steady at the Shawneetown location, which was in the Shawneetown Mall. He said participation was not as great at the Norris City testing site earlier in the morning. Inclement weather may have played a role, as Tuesday featured a fairly steady drizzling rain most of the day.

EHD testing personnel said those tested will receive a telephone notification in four to seven days about results, though often people have received the results in about three days.

People being tested who exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 are asked to self-quarantine until they know test results. People who do not exhibit symptoms are not required to quarantine.