MOSES LAKE — Though Samaritan’s Respiratory Virus Evaluation Center, set up in mid-March to help isolate potential COVID-19 patients, is still seeing a significant number of patients, things have started to slowly mellow a bit, physician assistant Brett Hymas said in a recent interview.

After an initial rush from patients to the newly opened clinic, the pace has relaxed some, Hymas said. In fact, with local hospitals not yet seeing the spike of novel coronavirus patients some had feared, Hymas, who has worked in health care for around five years, said the pace has been relatively easy.

“I work in urgent care, so I see a large amount of patients on a normal day, so for me it’s a vacation.” Hymas said with a chuckle. “I think we’re doing good.”

Still, Grant County and Washington state aren’t out of the woods yet, and Hymas cautions that social distancing efforts need to continue for some time yet.

“We still need to do our part,” Hymas said. “I know people are getting a little stir crazy and getting cabin fever, but stay the course. We want to be able to look back and know we did what we needed to.”

The Respiratory Virus Evaluation Center, or RVEC, is pivotal for Samaritan’s operations as it works to test those who may be infected with the novel coronavirus while separating them from other patients. Tests are administered to patients, consisting of a long swab inserted into the nose that is then sent to a lab for analysis.

Where those tests go depends on the patient, Hymas said. For the general public, the test is sent out to a third-party lab and then to a state lab to double check. For health care workers or those inside a nursing home, however, tests are sent straight to the state lab for the quickest results, Hymas said.

The capacity to analyze those tests has expanded greatly in recent weeks as additional laboratories come online. And while widespread testing has been stymied by a number of factors, primarily access to the testing supplies themselves, access to those tests has gradually increased. This has allowed the relaxing of strict guidelines regarding who could be tested, meaning providers are able to test more high-risk people, Hymas said.

While Hymas’ staff administers the tests, he evaluates patients coming in to ensure that they meet current testing criteria and if they need to be at the RVEC. If not, they’re sent away, due to the risk of them catching the virus from another patient in the clinic.

There are a number of protocols like this to reduce the risk of infection stemming from the clinic. Along with its own air-handling system, sealed off from the rest of the clinic with oversized plastic wrap, the area is a negative pressure room, which allows air to enter but not to escape to other areas of the hospital.

People entering the clinic are also asked to use hand sanitizer and masks, as well as to keep their distance from one another.

As the pandemic rolls on and dominates daily headlines, Hymas said that the mood of patients varies from person to person.

“Some people are scared to death by the media, and they come in scared with minimal symptoms,” Hymas said. “And then we have some people with concerning symptoms who aren’t that concerned about it. It’s a split.”

As for himself, Hymas said he has talked with his wife and five children about the risks involved with his job during the pandemic and the possibility that he could bring the virus home.

“But at the end of the day my family knows I work for Samaritan so that I can help however I can for the community,” he said.