Beaufort Hospital says patients must call ahead for coronavirus symptoms

Note: The Island Packet, Beaufort Gazette and McClatchy news sites have lifted the paywall on this developing story, providing critical information to readers. To support vital reporting such as this, please consider a digital subscription.

Patients seeking care at Beaufort Memorial Hospital and Express Care clinics are asked to call ahead rather than show up if they have fever and respiratory symptoms, hospital officials said Wednesday.

The change comes as communities around the state take precautions. Nine coronavirus cases have been reported by South Carolina health officials as of Tuesday.

Seven people have presumptively tested positive for coronavirus, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control officials have said. Two additional cases have been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. None of the individuals is in Beaufort County.

Patients will undergo a brief phone screening and instructions before they are told to arrive in person.

“Based on their responses, patients could be asked to report to one of two Express Care locations in Beaufort or Bluffton,” the release says.

Patients are likely to receive rapid influenza and strep tests and, in some cases, may be asked to wait in their cars while the tests are administered and processed.

If both tests are negative, patients will be given a Respiratory Virus Panel (RVP) at the hospital’s emergency department.

RVP tests look for a variety of respiratory illnesses, such as rhinovirus and RSV, according to Lap Corp’s website.

“The call-ahead screening process is designed for patients who meet the high-risk criteria for COVID-19, including travel outside of the U.S. in the past 30 days and fever, cough and shortness of breath,” Sherri Rabon, Beaufort Memorial infection prevention manager, said in the release. “The goal is to decrease the risk of exposure to patients and staff, while providing symptomatic patients with clinical screenings and testing quickly and safely.”

The hospital is following steps encouraged by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and SCDHEC.

“For patient convenience, hospital staff may collect upper and lower airway samples at its emergency department and store them for eventual testing by DHEC and CDC,” the release says. “It is important to note that Beaufort Memorial does not provide COVID-19 testing.”

Visit Beaufort Memorial’s website at www.beaufortmemorial.org/coronavirus for more information or email healthupdates@bmhsc.org.

This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 3:14 PM.