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HomeNewsMontgomery County releases Coronavirus Update

Montgomery County releases Coronavirus Update

Montgomery County Government TennesseeMontgomery County, TN – Montgomery County Government is working to provide information from our local health professionals to help disseminate facts about assessment and testing of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) within our community. There have been many rumors on symptoms, assessments and testing that are not factual.

Based on information from the Montgomery County Health Department and other medical providers people are asking to be tested for COVID-19 (Coronavirus) who do not exhibit symptoms.

Montgomery County Health Department.
Montgomery County Health Department.

If you call your medical provider and mention that you are sick and may need to be tested, they can triage and assess your condition and arrange to do a nasal pharyngeal swab for coronavirus if you have the COVID-19 symptoms, which are: fever, cough, and shortness of breath.

Individuals who have the symptoms will be tested for the virus.

“Medical personnel are following the same protocol with testing for COVID-19 (Coronavirus) they practice with any other sickness – meaning that tests are given based on symptoms. If we swabbed people who are just curious, with no symptoms, that could put undue strain on the health care system, slow the process of getting lab test results and could put people at higher risk,” said Joey Smith, Director of Montgomery County Health Department .

The Montgomery County Health Department and other medical facilities are triaging and assessing people who come through the doors but do not conduct nasal swabs for persons who do not exhibit the symptoms.

Just like being swabbed for strep throat or streptococcal pharyngitis and having that sent to a lab for testing; local medical providers can provide nose or nasal pharyngeal swabs that are sent out to a lab for COVID-19 testing for those who exhibit the symptoms described by the CDC. Any person who presents the symptoms is asked to self-quarantine until their results are back.

Assessment means that you have been seen and the medical facility has determined that a swab is needed to be sent for testing or that a swab is not needed and there may be another medical issue. Montgomery County Health Department in partnership with Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH), Tennova Healthcare – Clarksville and Premier Medical Group have conducted more nose swabs for citizens who have a fever, cough and shortness of breath than any other area in the region thus far.

Testing began in Montgomery County quickly after the specimen instructions were sent from the Tennessee Department of Health the first week of March 2020.

The number of people testing positive for COVID-19 (Coronavirus) changes daily and the number of tests being conducted is rising. As of March 19th, approximately 6.5% of the swabs tested at the Tennessee State Public Health Laboratory came back positive. As of today, March 19th, the number of positive cases for Tennessee is 154, including 1 in Montgomery County.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced this week, that there will be more remote testing sites. The list of sites will be shared on the Montgomery County Government Facebook Page.

Please continue to follow CDC guidelines as we work through this health crisis.

Additional information is available at www.tn.gov/governor/covid-19.html and www.tn.gov/health/cedep/ncov.html.

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