Royal Inland Hospital now has the capacity to test COVID-19 samples right on site (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

MORE COVID-19 TESTING

More COVID-19 testing happening in Kamloops as RIH lab increases capacity

Apr 22, 2020 | 5:31 PM

KAMLOOPS — In an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19, more people in Kamloops and elsewhere in the B.C. Interior are now getting tested for the virus with the capacity to test everyone with symptoms.

Interior Health is following the province’s revamped testing strategy and has open testing sites in four communities across the health authority, including Kamloops.

Now that the curve is starting to flatten from COVID-19, Interior Health wants to ensure it’s not missing any cases.

“This disease can have a range of symptoms, from very serious to death to mild symptoms, so we were focusing in the beginning with those that were at higher risk, those groups that met the criteria in the beginning. But now that we have time and we can slow down, we have capacity to widen the net,” said Interior Health medical health officer Dr. Silvina Mema.

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The reason for that is places like Royal Inland Hospital now has the capacity to test samples from local residents in its own lab.

“They are starting now, so we are in the phase of scaling up, but they have done tests recently and they have reported some of the results to us,” noted Mema.

Prior to RIH being able to test, swabs would be sent to Vancouver and take days to return. Now tests results can be produced within hours.

“Since we started having this capacity, we have tested over 6,000 samples here in [Interior Health] without having to ship them, and that increases the turnaround time.”

With increased capacity, Interior Health can now test anyone feeling symptoms related to COVID-19, even through a family doctor in some cases.

As of Wednesday, there have been 153 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 within Interior Health and 97 people have fully recovered.