Chris Herbert | Valdosta Daily TimesWith the new triage tent, South Georgia Medical Center emergency department will have an intersection of sorts, directing potential COVID-19 patients into the tent and non-COVID-19 patients inside for the usual ER assessment process.

VALDOSTA – Patients visiting the South Georgia Medical Center emergency department will have an additional step in the process.

Sitting outside the ER entrance, a 15,000-square-foot tent has been erected. Named the “ER Triage Tent,” it will help treat and assess patients showing symptoms of the coronavirus.

The triage tent is intended to help with increased volume at the SGMC emergency room due to COVID-19, according to a SGMC statement.

Before a patient enters the SGMC ER, they will be screened and if they show COVID-19 symptoms, they will be directed to the tent for triage, said Dr. Clark Connell, SGMC emergency medicine medical director.

Staff inside the tent will wear personal protective equipment and conduct “rapid assessment” before determining the next step for the potential COVID-19, according to the hospital statement.

“The expanded triage area helps keep our patients and staff safe by creating more capacity within our ER, facilitating required social distancing for potentially contagious patients and allowing our team to have more room to accommodate a large surge of patients,” Connell said.

Patients not screened for COVID-19 will proceed inside the department for the normal assessment process, according to the statement.

SGMC stated it believes the upcoming two to four weeks could require more measures to respond to a regional surge in COVID-19 patients, so the triage tent will be able to morph with that surge.