Summit County's COVID-19 positivity rate drops as testing efforts increase across the county - Summit Daily News

A MAKO Medical technician performs a COVID screening test at the Silverthorne drive-through testing site on Friday, Nov.

A MAKO Medical technician holds a clipboard with information related to COVID screening procedures that are being performed at the Silverthorne drive-through testing site on Friday, Nov.

A MAKO Medical technician handles a COVID test at the Silverthorne drive-through testing site on Friday, Nov.

A driver waits to receive a COVID test at the Silverthorne drive-through testing site operated by MAKO Medical on Friday, Nov.

KEYSTONE — Anyone in Summit County can now get a test for the novel coronavirus, regardless of their situation.

Currently, Summit County has the capacity to administer around 1,000 tests per day through its three testing sites, Public Health Director Amy Wineland said at a virtual town hall event on Nov.

With this capacity, testing is now available to the entire community, regardless of whether they are insured or symptomatic.

The dramatic increase of testing capacity came as a result of a rising test positivity rate — the percentage of positive tests out of all tests — in Summit County.

“We’re doing a better job capturing those who have the virus due to the increased testing we’re doing in the community,” Wineland said at a Board of Health meeting on Tuesday, Nov.

When cases began to rise in mid-September the county was only able to test about 100 people a day through its Centura Health site.

Since then the county has partnered with Vail Health and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to open two more testing clinics in Frisco and Silverthorne.

It has also worked with Centura Health to expand testing at its daily testing clinic.

In Frisco, Centura Health operates a daily clinic at the Vista Professional Building.

The clinic has ramped up its testing capacity and is now testing up to 200 people a day, St.

Throughout all of its clinics, Centura has expanded its criteria for testing, said Dr.

“In the beginning we were only testing patients who met criteria to be hospitalized and very few other populations,” he said.

The county also partnered with Vail Health, Breckenridge Grand Vacations and Arapahoe Basin Ski Area to open a new testing site at the Old Community Center, which is located at 110 Third Ave.

This is the second time the county has brought in Vail Health to help provide testing in the community.

In April, Vail Health started providing testing at its Howard Head Sports Medicine clinic.

The following places offer testing for the virus in Summit County:.

• Centura Health’s Centers for Occupational Medicine in Frisco: Testing available daily by appointment at the Vista Professional Building.

• State testing in Silverthorne: Drive-thru testing available from 9 a.m.

• Vail Health testing in Frisco: Testing is available by appointment from 8 a.m.

Anyone who has been tested because of exposure to the virus is required to quarantine for 14 days regardless of test result, Public Health Director Amy Wineland said.

Shaneis Kehoe, who oversees testing at the Vail Health clinic, said Summit County officials approached the health system to improve testing capacity in the county.

Both Kehoe and Cobb said the two testing sites aren’t experiencing the limitations they saw at the beginning of the pandemic.

Kehoe said patients of the Vail Health site can expect a result within 48 hours.

In addition to increased capacity at the Centura site and a new Vail Health site, the county partnered with the state health department to open a drive-thru testing site in the overflow parking lot next to the Silverthorne Recreation Center.

The state site, which is run by MAKO Medical, is able to administer around 600 tests per day, said Wineland at a community town hall on Nov.

While it was originally scheduled to only be open for two weeks, the site is now set to be in Silverthorne through Dec.

Unlike the Centura and Vail Health sites, the Silverthorne testing site does not require an appointment.

Although testing is widely available in Summit County, that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t be following COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions, Cobb said.

KEYSTONE — Anyone in Summit County can now get a test for the novel coronavirus, regardless of their situation.

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