MOSES LAKE – As clusters of the novel coronavirus continue to mount in Washington state, some residents of Grant County are concerned that current testing guidelines are insufficient to identify cases and halt the spread of the disease.

One resident, who spoke to the Herald on condition of anonymity due to privacy concerns, traveled to affected areas of China and southeast Asia in January. The resident started showing symptoms correlated with the novel coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, in late February – well outside of the 14-day range in which testing is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, due to uncertainty about the disease, the resident attempted to voluntarily submit to testing at Samaritan Hospital, only to be at least temporarily turned away due to those testing guidelines.

Currently, CDC guidelines typically only mandate testing in cases of a patient who has been in contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient or has traveled to an area currently placed under a Level 2 Travel Health Notice or higher within 14 days of the onset of symptoms. As of Monday, countries with applicable travel advisories include Japan, South Korea, Italy, China and Iran.

Testing is also reportedly available for those who have been hospitalized for severe lower respiratory tract infections and who have tested negative for other common pathogens, such as the flu and strep throat.

However, though the majority of known COVID-19 cases are showing symptoms within a 14-day window, there have been reports of some outliers, according to Environmental Health Specialist Amber McCoy, with Grant County Health District.

Further, a genetic analysis by Trevor Bedford, an associate professor at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the University of Washington, has suggested that the virus has been spreading undetected within Washington state for over a month, infecting people who have not traveled to affected areas or with known contact to confirmed COVID-19 patients.

CDC guidelines do allow for clinical discretion, according to an agency telebriefing Saturday, authorizing health care providers to submit a patient to testing even if they do not fit every specified guideline. As of Sunday, only the Grant County Health District was able to administer tests for area patients if they were referred by local providers.

Samaritan Hospital would not comment on whether it had made any exceptions for patients wishing to undergo testing but who do not fit current CDC testing guidelines, saying only that COVID-19 is an evolving situation. As of Monday, the Grant County Health District confirmed it had tested only one patient from the county.

Those tests are then sent to the Washington State Public Health Lab in Shoreline, which was authorized last Thursday to process the tests, according to McCoy. Until recently, it was the only facility authorized to do so, and due to a backlog in processing tests, the sole test from Grant County is not expected to be returned with results for three to five days.

Though current CDC testing guidelines do not take into account all possible types of transmission of the virus, cases that fall under those parameters are being prioritized due to the limited amount of tests available, McCoy said.

However, she noted that, given the evolving nature of the public health emergency, she would not be surprised if those guidelines were modified in the coming weeks. In the first weeks after cases began to spread throughout mainland China, for example, the CDC’s testing guidelines had only applied to those traveling from that country and have since been extended as the situation has changed.

As of Monday, McCoy noted, a lab with the University of Washington was opening to perform tests directly from health care providers, which is expected to decrease testing backlogs going forward.

Following questions from the Herald, Samaritan Hospital did advocate for the local resident to be tested, but the state Department of Health declined the request, they told the Herald late Monday night. However, they added that the hospital then administered a swab test and sent it directly to the UW laboratory, but that it was unclear when or if those samples would be tested for the virus.

Officials with Samaritan Hospital declined to comment due to medical privacy laws. An employee with the state Department of Health noted that they have testing guidelines distinct from the CDC’s and generally would not administer a test for cases outside of those guidelines, but declined to comment on the specifics of this case.

For answers to frequently asked questions and common suggestions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, visit Samaritan Hospital’s recently created health alert page, available on its website, social media, or directly at https://bit.ly/32IJVot.