The COVID-19 case reported Thursday night at IU Health Bloomington Hospital is the Owen County patient confirmed earlier in the day to have tested positive for the virus.
This does not count as Monroe County case because the patient is an Owen County resident.
IU Health South Central Region President, Brian Shockney says the patient tested positive at the county and came to the hospital Thursday for treatment.
He says this will be a regular occurrence as the number of cases increases because IU Health is a regional hospital.
“We’re going to heave health departments in other counties release statements about patients who are positive in their counties but they’re going to be in hospitals and health facilities that are not in their community," he says.
Shockney says IU Health does have the ability to do limited testing. They’re prioritizing tests for high risk patients and healthcare workers.
The hospital defines high risk as someone sick enough to have been admitted to the hospital.
"I know there's a lot of people out there who want to get tested but because of the limited testing capabilities we can't fully upen that up to everyone at this time."
Shockney says he expects testing will be more widley available soon.
He says last week, testing could only go through the State Department of Health, which he sees as the first step.
"Right now we're kind of in phase two," he says. "Phase three of testing is the general public and we see that as other countries have got that up and running."
IU Health test is a swab of the nose that gets sent their central lab in Indianapolis. It takes 24 hours to get the results.
For the latest news and resources about COVID-19, bookmark our Coronavirus In Indiana page here.
