County Judge updates community on testing process/data

Stephens County Judge Michael Roach provided citizens with updated knowledge on the testing process for the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The information was provided on the Stephens County Facebook page inside the Stephens County Courthouse and was regarding citizens questioning data during the pandemic.

“There are a few places you can get tested here in Stephens County and those places are the Breckenridge Medical Clinic or Resource Care,” Roach said. “Each day however many people are tested makes up our total local number. Citizens can go anywhere to get tested and if you’re tested outside of Stephens County, the number goes to the state. The state then verifies those numbers to make sure the numbers are accurate. We then have to include those numbers in our local total. The state gives us numbers and we get local numbers and sometimes it takes 5-7 days for data to come back. Sometimes results can take 10- 14 days and it shows how long things can take at times. It does get confusing and we have to make adjustments, but at the end of the day, we want to be right and make sure the public is as up-to-date as possible.”

Stephens Memorial Hospital is in the process of looking into providing citizens with rapid result testing for the COVID-19 virus.

The testing will provide results within an estimated 15 minutes and will give citizens quicker results to better navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic.