SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) — Sanford Health in Sioux Falls can now utilize a test for COVID-19 with results available in 90 minutes.
These rapid tests are being used for the highest priority patients including those who are hospitalized, health care workers and elderly adults living in long-term care facilities.
Rochelle Odenbrett, senior executive director of Sanford Laboratories says “We are prioritizing only hospital patients at this time, because we have an allocation of reagents from the vendor, so we only have a limited amount that we can perform on the 90-minute assay.”
She says Sanford has an allocation of 950 of these tests they can do per week, and tests are being split between Sioux Falls and Fargo.
Doctor Lorne Holland, senior director of clinical pathology says “We use this platform currently for a lot of other viral testing that we do on our patients every day at Sanford. This is not a new or experimental platform. This is one that we use every single day, and they just started making this particular testing available to us.”
If patients are experiencing symptoms including fever, cough, or respiratory distress, they should call their provider instead of going directly to their clinic.
Sanford offers e-visits for COVID-19 care in South Dakota, Minnesota and North Dakota.
An e-visit is an online questionnaire about symptoms that patients complete from home.
A Sanford provider will review and respond within four hours with a treatment plan or prescription, or instruction to be seen in-person for further evaluation or testing.
