Delayed by Test Kit Shortage, First Nebraska COVID Drive-Thru Opens

Fifty-four people lined up in their cars to take part in Nebraska's first drive-through COVID-19 testing facility. Lincoln's Bryan Medical Center organized the initiative.

The hospital's leadership announced its plans earlier in the month.

All appeared orderly and routine on Tuesday during the four hours set aside for the appointment only testing at Bryan's Life Point medical campus. A heavy presence of traffic control on South 27th Street and leading to the parking lot location was scaled well before the testing ended.

The hospital had forty people pre-screened and scheduled as the first cars showed up at the 2:00 pm starting time. Fourteen additional people arrived by the time it ended at 6:00 pm. The location can handle up to sixty drive-ups a day.

Hospital officials said the purpose of a drive-through had less to do with the convenience of the public and more to do with the protection of the health care workers and others getting their tests.

Cars and pick-ups made their way through a maze of orange-striped construction barricades before getting to the first stop. A nurse fully encased in personal protective gear and a mask with an air supply made sure someone in the car had been pre-screened to qualify as a candidate for testing.

Without leaving the car, those seeking the test would pull into a second tent where nurses, also in full protective gear, did an influenza test with a nasal swab. Observers on a sidewalk several yards away could see the medical teams carefully placing the swabs in secure bio-hazard bags and walking them into a smaller tent set up for the on-site tests. The initial results rule out the regular flu as the cause of the reported symptoms.

After 15 to 20 minutes, the same team delivered the results. Should the result be positive for Influenza A or B, the medical team will advise the patient to get some over the counter flu remedy and take it easy while staying at home.

Testing negative for the flu meant the swab would be sent along for additional testing. The medical team would advise those patients to head straight home and self-isolate. The plan is to contact with a follow-up phone call from Bryan Medical Center. According to John Woodrich, the CEO of Bryan Medical Center, the final results of the COVID-19 test being sent to the outside lab being used by the center have routinely taken 2-4 days.

Woodrich said extending hours or continuing the clinic “will depend, day-by-day, on how much the service is being utilized.”

“I think all of you are aware the environment is changing by the day,” he said in a video briefing for reporters. “We'll try to have a segment maybe in the morning, in the afternoon, and we might do something at night.”

The medical center has been conducting tests at its facilities as well. As of Tuesday tests were completed on 44 people. Of those, 32 came back negative with another 12 awaiting final results. Ten are inpatients at Bryan Medical Center.