MOULTRIE, Ga. — On Friday, Colquitt Regional Medical Center, Augusta University and the Georgia National Guard opened a drive-through COVID-19 testing site at the hospital. 

Response has been slow so far, but participants are expecting better turn-out as word gets out that the service is available here.

“We are very appreciative of Gov. Kemp making these resources available,” said Colquitt Regional President and CEO Jim Matney. “This partnership with Augusta University and the Georgia National Guard will increase availability and access for people in our region who are exhibiting symptoms associated with COVID-19.” 

The testing site is under a tent set up in the hospital’s visitor parking lot, the lot closest to South Main Street. Patients will need to enter from 31st Avenue, where they’ll be checked in by a National Guardsman.

Patients must have a doctor’s order to be tested. Some will have such an order from a doctor associated with Colquitt Regional Medical Center. Others will undergo a virtual screening through the Augusta University Health Express Care app (available from your favorite app store for Apple or Android devices). Patients can receive the free screenings through the app or through the AU website, https://www.augustahealth.org/COVID19.

The patient will see a list of providers and the provider will come online and see them live on video to ask questions and clarify their risk, a Colquitt Regional spokeswoman said. Talking face to face allows the provider to notice any possible clues as to the patient’s risk. If it is determined the person is at high risk, they can set an appointment to be tested. 

Depending on whether the patient got his order through Colquitt Regional or through the Augusta University screening, he’ll be directed into one of two roped-off lanes leading under the tent.

Colquitt Regional lab workers will ask the patient a few questions then take a nasal swab. The patient never has to leave his car. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes, Guard Capt. James Cadenhead said. 

“Chick-fil-A style, if you will,” Cadenhead described it.

Samples are taken 8 a.m. to noon, seven days a week. They’re sealed after each test, and guardsmen transport them to the lab for analysis.

Cadenhead is the officer in charge of the team — Delta Co., 2nd Battalion, 48th Infantry — based in Valdosta. His team set up a similar testing site in Albany then turned it over to another unit to operate; this is the first site the team is operating themselves. 

The Georgia Guard’s Joint Task Force has deployed more than 2,500 guardsmen to support the overall COVID-19 response, according to a Friday press release. More than 200 of them are part of 10 teams involved in mobile testing sites like the one at Colquitt Regional.

The teams intend to test 1,500 patients per day across the state, the release said, with the capability to increase testing based on test-kit availability.

The Colquitt Regional site fell well short of that on Saturday. As of 11 a.m., the team was testing their second patient of the day. Experience at other sites indicates that number will rise.

Britney Wilkinson, a nurse from Augusta University, helped set up the Colquitt Regional site. It’s the first one she’s done outside her native Augusta, but she said the ones she worked at there were seeing 100 patients a day.

Colquitt Regional was selected as a regional testing site, drawing patients not only from Colquitt County but also from the surrounding area, CEO Matney said.

“Moultrie is a desirable location for this testing site because it is centrally located in Southwest Georgia,” he said. “We are also fortunate in that we have had a lower volume of COVID-19 patients so we have the resources readily available to facilitate this testing site.” 

Colquitt Regional will maintain its COVID-19 hotline (229-891-9380) and patients testing positive who need assistance managing their symptoms are encouraged to call the hotline. Staff will be able to direct them to the Sterling Physician Group or a Georgia South Family Medicine provider. 

For more information, please visit Colquitt Regional’s COVID-19 webpage at www.colquittregional.com/covid-19.