GRANT COUNTY -—Grant County’s recent surge in new cases — more than a quarter of all positive tests since the pandemic began were reported in the last week — has coincided with a significant increase in testing since early June.

Between March 27 and June 5, the total number of tests results reported each week generally fluctuated between the mid-200s and mid-300s, with the spikes in testing above 400 per week in early April and in late May. During that period, an average of just over 312 tests were reported per week.

Weekly positive tests results during the same period were also relatively steady, generally ranging from the low teens to low thirties. Between March 27 and June 5, an average of around 24 positive cases were reported each week.

During the seven-day periods ending April 3 and April 10, a relatively high 33 cases were reported each week. Weekly positive test results then dipped mostly into the low twenties and mid-teens until the seven-day period ending June 12, when 43 cases were reported.

Those early April and early June figures correspond with significantly higher overall testing. In the seven-day period ending April 3, for example, 40 percent more tests than average were reported by health officials, while 35 percent more positive tests than average were reported. In the seven-day period ending June 12, 110 percent more tests were reported than on average in previous weeks, while 76 percent more positive tests than average were reported.

June 12 was the last day in which Grant County Health District reported the number of negative test results it had gotten back in the last 24 hours. At a recent briefing, health officials reported that they were unable to keep publishing an accurate count of negative test results due to the large amount of resources needed to conduct contact tracing investigations for the spike of positive cases.

By June 19, 117 new cases had been reported in the previous seven days, almost five times the earlier weekly average.

At Samaritan Healthcare, where over half of all COVID-19 tests in the county had been conducted as of June 11 according to hospital officials, testing has continually increased since the pandemic began. In March, the hospital conducted 547 tests; in May, 854 tests. This month, as of June 16, the hospital had conducted 612 tests, well on its way to surpassing previous months.

Though testing has increased significantly, health officials and local clinics have reported that the majority of tests taken continue to be only for symptomatic patients or for people identified during contact tracing investigations.

Some substantial changes have been made that can account for at least a portion of the increased testing, as hospitals began testing all pre-surgical patients and those admitted to the hospital for other reasons in late May. At Samaritan, as of June 16, 373 pre-surgical patients and 96 patients admitted to the hospital were tested for the coronavirus, of whom only one tested positive.

And though tests are still largely restricted to symptomatic patients, testing has become more available over time, said Dr. Andrea Carter, Samaritan’s chief medical officer.

“At the very beginning, we needed permission from (the state Department of Health) to test anybody,” Carter said. “That’s no longer the case.”

The turnaround time for test results to come back has also dramatically decreased in recent months, she added. There may also be additional categories of people, beyond those showing symptoms of COVID-19, who may be able to more easily get tested in the future, Carter said.

“We are always in conversation about what we should do, how else would you do testing, who else would you do it on,” she said.