{"id":806525,"date":"2020-04-17T16:18:29","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T22:18:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=381902"},"modified":"2020-04-17T16:18:29","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T22:18:29","slug":"summit-county-partners-with-vail-health-to-dramatically-expand-local-coronavirus-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-county-partners-with-vail-health-to-dramatically-expand-local-coronavirus-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit County partners with Vail Health to dramatically expand local coronavirus testing"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/CommunityCareClinic-SDN-033120-3-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/CommunityCareClinic-SDN-033120-3-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/CommunityCareClinic-SDN-033120-3-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/CommunityCareClinic-SDN-033120-3-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/CommunityCareClinic-SDN-033120-3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/CommunityCareClinic-SDN-033120-3-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong>Medical supplies for coronavirus testing are pictured at the Summit Community Care Clinic in Frisco on March 30.<\/strong><br \/><em>Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>FRISCO \u2014 Summit County officials are expecting to significantly expand testing for the new coronavirus among residents thanks to a new partnership with Vail Health.<\/p>\n<p>Beginning next week, representatives with Vail Health will be conducting testing Tuesdays and Thursdays in Silverthorne. The move should help to drastically increase the number of Summit County residents being tested for the novel coronavirus, which could speed up the timetable for easing restrictions in the county\u2019s public health order.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to have a huge impact,\u201d Assistant County Manager Sarah Vaine. \u201cBeing able to gather that data and make sound, smart public health decisions based on actual test results is an enormous relief. \u2026 There\u2019s a roadmap to recovery that\u2019s being shared across the country that I think public health experts all agree on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a number of things that you need in order to reopen communities in a safe way. One is demonstrating that there\u2019s been a reduction in the presence of the virus over the course of at least two weeks. The other is that the hospital and local outpatient practices all have capacity. As we get more data and ensure that those pieces are in place, we\u2019ll have so much more information for the public, which is what we\u2019ve been hoping for all along.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row sd-donation sd-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/SDN-logo-white-1.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.summitdaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/sdn-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Since a visitor to Summit County was the first individual in Colorado to test positive for the new coronavirus March 5, the county has struggled to keep up with the growing demand for testing. To date, only about 249 people have been tested in the county at St. Anthony Summit Medical Center, the Summit Community Care Clinic and through Stadium Medical\u2019s mobile testing team.<\/p>\n<p>The scene looks considerably different in Eagle County, where more than 2,100 individuals already have been tested. Earlier this week, county officials reached out to Vail Health directly asking for help. The organization responded immediately with a plan of action.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEagle County has done a really exceptional job in terms of widespread testing,\u201d Vaine said. \u201c\u2026 We\u2019ve really struggled with access to tests and getting sites and providers to do testing. But Vail Health opened a number of special offices really focused on testing. There seems to be a philosophy that they embraced that the best way to understand if we were moving the needle at all was through mass testing, which we agree with.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor us to be able to contemplate opening things back up in our community, we have to have good data to support that. We just haven\u2019t had the testing capability to provide the data we need. But our neighbors have great testing capability and are testing more people per capita than any other community in the country. We reached out and got a response immediately. They said, \u2018We\u2019re in a much better place, and we\u2019re here to help.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Beginning Friday, April 17, Summit County residents can email <a href=\"mailto:SummitCOVIDScreening@VailHealth.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">summitcovidscreening@vailhealth.org<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i> with their name and phone number to set up an appointment. Representatives with Vail Health will then call residents, do a quick symptom screening over the phone and set up a testing appointment. Of note, tests are still being reserved for individuals exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, though individuals with even mild symptoms now are encouraged to get tested. Residents will no longer be required to receive a doctor\u2019s order before being tested.<\/p>\n<p>Vaine said that Vail Health would be providing the tests and likely would be able to test about 100 people a day, a vast improvement over the county\u2019s current capacities. Testing will be done at Howard Head Sports Medicine in Silverthorne, part of Vail Health\u2019s network.<\/p>\n<p>Vaine also noted that the county is committed to making sure payment isn\u2019t a barrier for anyone who needs to be tested and that uninsured residents won\u2019t have to worry about testing expenses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis has been economically excruciating for people, and unbelievably stressful even for people who are still employed and getting paid,\u201d Vaine said. \u201cWe are so grateful to the vast majority of people who have adhered to the public health order, and been patient and supportive of each other and the community through this crazy time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/summit-county-partners-with-vail-health-to-dramatically-expand-local-coronavirus-testing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Medical supplies for coronavirus testing are pictured at the Summit Community Care Clinic in Frisco on March 30.Liz Copan \/ ecopan@summitdaily.com FRISCO \u2014 Summit County officials are expecting to significantly expand testing for the new coronavirus among residents thanks to a new partnership with Vail Health. Beginning next week, representatives with Vail Health will be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-806525","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-13 18:41:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}