As more laboratories across the state come online to assist in testing for the novel coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, and with the recent announcement of a fatal case of the virus in a Quincy resident, there has been an uptick of tests sent from Grant County medical facilities.

As of Monday, both Quincy and Moses Lake Community Health Centers have submitted one sample each from residents who had contact with the Quincy patient, according to Stephanie Melcher, marketing and communications director with Community Health Center.

Quincy Valley Medical Center has also submitted a “small number” of tests, CEO Glenda Bishop said in an interview Monday, though she was not prepared to say exactly how many samples have been sent.

Samaritan Healthcare Executive Director of Development and Communication Gretchen Youngren also declined to state Monday how many samples had been sent from the hospital, stating the Moses Lake hospital would have updates by Tuesday. However, she did note that there were currently no confirmed cases at the hospital.

“We just really want to reiterate the message coming from the health district and the CDC, that one of the biggest things that people should know is that the majority of cases won’t need hospitalization,” Youngren said in an interview Monday.

Spokespeople for medical facilities across the county also stressed that local residents should call in to the hospitals before coming in, allowing staff to prepare and to separate possible coronavirus patients from the general population. Both Bishop and Youngren noted that the public has generally gotten this message and people have not been overwhelming emergency rooms.

Tests can only be administered to patients showing symptoms of the disease, which are similar to the flu, if in the last 14 days they have also been in contact with a confirmed case of coronavirus or who have traveled through certain affected areas. Some exceptions apply at the discretion of medical providers, but no Grant County medical facility contacted by the Herald indicated any tests submitted thus far have fallen outside of those guidelines.

Only one test had been sent out from Grant County as of last Monday, March 2, according to the Grant County Health District. While the numbers have certainly spiked since then, the health district is no longer keeping a full running tally of cases as the capacity for testing increases, said Amber McCoy, an environmental health specialist with the health district.

The University of Washington has been accepting tests directly from health care providers since last week, for instance, and Spokane-based LabCorp similarly started taking tests Monday. Tests performed by outside agencies that are positive must be submitted to a state laboratory for further review before final confirmation.