GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — As Coronavirus numbers in the state of Wisconsin continue to rise, questions about who should be tested and when are being asked.
Bellin Health Infection Prevention Specialist Carol Bess says that if you don’t have symptoms: you don’t need testing.
“They’re put it into tiers, so they have tier one, tier two, tier three, and tier four, and ‘do not test’ which includes people without symptoms and people with mild upper respiratory issues,” Bess told WTAQ.
Tier one patients are patients in intensive care or have a high risk condition that come to the hospital with an unknown respiratory illness. Tier four patients are outpatient cases with no underlying health concerns.
Bess says right now the state doesn’t have the capacity to test all of the kits that come in at the two labs capable of processing tests, so they’re only processing tests from the highest risk patients.
“They don’t have enough capacity to do anything but tier one or tier two at this time,” Bess said. “So they can collect a specimen if you’re tier three or tier four, but they won’t process them at this time.”
Community spread of the COVID-19 virus was confirmed Thursday by state health officials.
