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Hopkins County, Madisonville Officials Detail Testing Site, Steps Forward

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  Hopkins County and Madisonville leaders say the county’s new coronavirus testing center will begin drive-thru testing at a local high school starting Tuesday.

 

Gov. Andy Beshear during his daily coronavirus press conference Thursday said Hopkins County had been “hit really hard” by the virus, and he wanted to make sure the county had a drive-thru testing site. The Hopkins County site was one of four new testing centers announced, another located in Paducah.

 

Hopkins County Schools Superintendent Deanna Ashby in a Friday livestream said tents, barricades and directional cones are being set up on the campus of Madisonville North Hopkins High School, with regular business closed on the campus. 

 

“The school district’s role has been to help establish the site, serve as a liason, and make sure we can provide a secure and sanitized area for the workers,” Ashby said. 

 

Ashby also said the school district’s administration would be based at the district’s board of education office. Officials plan to test 1,000 people over the course of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Testing is limited to healthcare workers, first responders, people with coronavirus symptoms, people 65 years old or older, or people with chronic health conditions.

 

Individuals can sign up for testing online at krogerhealth.com/drivethru-testing, and can call a hotline regarding testing at 1-888-852-2567.

 

“The testing does not start until Tuesday. So please don’t go out and drive to the school...it will be barricaded off, and you can’t get in until the testing starts. And if you do not register to go get tested, you will be turned away,” said Hopkins County Judge-Executive Jack Whitfield.

 

Whitfield said the county currently has 48 active cases of COVID-19, with 59 people recovered. Nine have died.

 

Whitfield also said with federal and state leaders beginning conversations on how to re-open businesses and schools, people still need to remain vigilant. He requested people check out federal guidelines on reopening released Thursday that has states opening in phases.

 

“It’ll be on a state-by-state and possibly even a county-by-county, city-by-city manner in the way we do it,” Whitfield said. “If we are not continuing to social distance, we’re never even going to meet that gateway to phase one.” 

 

Wayne Lipson, a medical practitioner at Baptist Health Madisonville hospital, said there were currently 28 patients with the coronavirus or experiencing coronavirus symptoms at the hospital. 

Lipson also said through help from the Kentucky Department of Public Health, a “strikeforce” of nursing and medical students from Northern Kentucky University, University of Kentucky School of Medicine, and the University of Pikeville College of Medicine, had come to help aid those with coronavirus at a local nursing home. 

 

He said despite fears of contracting the coronavirus, people with heart conditions should still seek medical care at a hospital. 

 

“Despite the pandemic, that does not change the fact that you can still have a heart attack,” Lipson said. “The faster you are to get attention, the less damage you’ll have potentially.”

 

"Liam Niemeyer is a reporter for the Ohio Valley Resource covering agriculture and infrastructure in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia and also serves Assistant News Director at WKMS. He has reported for public radio stations across the country from Appalachia to Alaska, most recently as a reporter for WOUB Public Media in Athens, Ohio. He is a recent alumnus of Ohio University and enjoys playing tenor saxophone in various jazz groups."
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