Those who have followed The Press’s reporting of coronavirus testing in Crittenden County know that it has been periodically posting or publishing the number of tests administered and the disposition of each case. Those are numbers of individuals tested at Crittenden Community Hospital. As of now, there have been 13 individuals who have met testing protocol and have been tested. None have been diagnosed positive from tests taken at CCH, according to Emergency Management Director Chuck Hoover. Results from four tests were outstanding as of Saturday morning.
CCH also said a few days ago that it does not have an active-case patient in its facility.
Figures reported by The Press do not represent tests administered outside of Crittenden County.
Jim Tolley, public health director for the Pennyrile region, tells us that reporting can be done in various ways.
Reporting can be made by doctors, the facility administering the test, and perhaps even the person who was tested. Some people from Crittenden County could be tested in another county or out of state. In that case, their information may or may not eventually be identified with this community. That has, and will continue to happen.
You might read on social media where people say themselves or loved ones have tested negative, and there has been an instance where someone posted that they’ve tested positive.
If a person is tested at a healthcare facility in another county, that information doesn’t necessarily come back to local leaders in a timely fashion. By law, COVID-19 is a reportable virus. That means the state tracks the number of cases, and that information is currently being made public by the governor’s office. The Kentucky Poison Control Center (which oddly enough is the agency operating the hotline call center) is managing at least some of the reporting for Kentucky.
