Big turnout for COVID-19 testing before Thanksgiving

The line for COVID-19 testing at the Medical University of South Carolina stretched from the Drug Discovery Building to Bee Street as employees and their family members got ready for the Thanksgiving holiday. The one-day event was expected to draw between 1,200 and 1,400 people.

MUSC Health also launched a temporary testing site in the Charleston International Airport’s daily parking garage. It’s open through Wednesday of Thanksgiving week from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. to anyone who wants a COVID-19 test. 

Tom Crawford, the chief operating officer for MUSC Health, said it’s important to make COVID-19 testing widely available. “I think that testing will be around for well into 2021. And our thought would be instead of always making individuals go to where our testing locations are, can't we get our testing locations to where the people are and make it as convenient as possible?”

 

He hopes between 200 and 300 people will get tested at the airport each day. And unlike last summer, when it could take several days to get COVID-19 test results, it now takes just a day or two. 

“In the midst of all of this, everybody was learning to fly an aircraft that we were building operationally. At MUSC Health, we never stopped building. We never stopped investing. And so we have more capacity than we had early in the summer. We knew that we were going to continually be called upon to meet the needs of South Carolinians, and we're ready,” Crawford said.

The employee testing event and airport testing site add to a long list of locations where people can get free COVID-19 testing. They can also make appointments to get tested through musc.care.

 

“I think you'll find that other health care systems are doing different things to meet the needs of their communities, but I don't know if anybody's done quite the level of testing that MUSC Health has done. I mean, we tested hundreds of thousands of people all throughout the state, both metropolitan and rural communities,” Crawford said.

MUSC Health leaders encourage everyone to celebrate Thanksgiving with just the people who live in their households to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19 and lowering the odds of another big surge in cases.

They’re asking people who plan to celebrate with a wider group of family members or friends to get tested for COVID-19, stay outside as much as possible during gatherings, stay six feet apart, wear masks and clean their hands frequently.

Crawford said that while he hopes testing and precautions will keep COVID case numbers from spiking, MUSC Health is ready for whatever lies ahead. “We’re prepared, and we’ve been working on this.”