MARQUETTE — On Friday, officials announced 16 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Michigan while President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency that afternoon.

While there are not yet any confirmed cases in the Upper Peninsula, people are actively being tested for the virus in Marquette County.

However, the number of people being tested cannot be confirmed, said Dr. Kevin Piggott, medical director of the Marquette County Health Department.

When testing for the virus first began in the state, the only lab with testing capabilities was the State of Michigan Bureau of Laboratories, Piggott explained.

It has typically taken about 24 hours to get results back from a state lab, but as cases increase, the turnaround time may be longer, Piggott added.

As of Tuesday, there are now commercial labs across the nation able to test for the novel coronavirus. Both UP Health System – Marquette and UPHS - Bell are using a reference lab.

The state is also working on sending test kits out to health departments to be distributed to practitioners, Piggott said.

As cases come forward, the public has seen cases labeled as “presumptive positive,” which means a lab has determined a test is positive, but the specimen must be sent to the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for review before it is considered a confirmed case, Piggott said.

“That may be confusing … but again, this is all to ensure that our tests are as valid as they can be,” he said.

There are no “perfect tests,” he noted, as tests have characteristics that medical professionals define as specificity and sensitivity that help them to determine the validity of the result.

It is not unusual for health care providers to have the facilities to obtain a specimen to be tested, as initial recommendations on testing were for doctors to collect a nasopharyngeal swab or oropharyngeal swab, which are also collected to test for things like pertussis and influenza, he said.

Community concerns

With the rising number of cases, many are concerned about testing availability.

“Early on in this, when people heard that the CDC was sending out test kits, these weren’t test kits to test people for the illness,” Piggott said. “These were kits that were being sent to labs so the labs have the proper reagents and calibrating their instruments so they can do the testing …. So that their machines are up and running and validating as well as we can.”

If people are concerned they may have contracted COVID-19 and are experiencing symptoms, they should begin by calling their private physician or provider, identifying themselves and stating their concern, so that an office can prepare themselves and other patients, Piggott said. The individual may then be given a mask before entering and may come in through an alternative entrance and be directed straight to an exam room. Generally, the exam will proceed just like any other, he said.

It’s important to recognize, Piggott said, that indiscriminate testing of the general public can result in more false positives than just testing those who feel ill, have visited a country with an outbreak or have been exposed to an individual with the virus.

The public should use discretion when deciding if they should be tested, especially in Marquette County — where it is more likely one may have influenza than the novel cornoavirus –as to not further stress the healthcare system, he added.

“We are asking people to understand in many ways this is all-together brand-new systems that are being put into really a health care system that is not integrated or coordinated,” Piggott said. “That’s the complaints about the U.S. health care system — not today, not yesterday–that’s been known that’s the nature of our health care system.”

Furthermore, he recommended those who are otherwise healthy do not wear masks because personal protective equipment is limited.

“We don’t have enough of it across the community,” Piggott said. “And if we’re wasting it, that’s not good. So we are concerned, not just (about) testing people who are worried and just want to have a test, because it’s not only the test that we have to use. It’s all the resources that have to be used in a person that’s more severely ill or hospitalized or is in the (intensive care unit). And if we don’t have enough of that equipment to protect our health care workers, our health care workers are going to get ill also. And now we really have a bigger problem. Because as people get more and more ill, we don’t even have providers to see them, that could really mount to an ugly scenario. That’s why there’s so much concern right now.”

Beyond the mask issue, many have begun stockpiling items and bought out items such as cleaning supplies and toilet paper as concerns about the spread of the disease rises.

However, Piggott said it’s not unreasonable for people to do some preparation, specifically in regards to items such as medication.

“People have to interpret what it means to them to be prepared and what they’re comfortable with. And I hope that we can just try to maintain a level head right now,” he said.

Piggott reiterated the current recommendations on preventing the spread of the virus, such as:

≤ Washing your hands frequently and correctly with soap and water for 20 to 30 seconds. Use a paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the door in public facilities

≤ Wash your hands before eating and handling food

≤ Avoid touching your eyes, nose, mouth and face

≤ Use alternative methods of greeting rather than shaking hands

≤ Avoid contact with sick people

≤ Stay home if you’re sick

≤ Refrain from gathering in large groups

Of the recommendations, Piggott said: “We really are asking people to cooperate. I know that some of these things just seem wild but these are unusual times. We don’t really know what this virus can do. We have concerns that it is much more lethal than what influenza is, and even influenza has resulted in 20-something-thousand deaths this flu season starting from Oct. 1 to now.”

From the beginning of flu season to Feb. 29, there have been 34 million to 49 million flu illnesses, 16 million to 23 million flu medical visits, 350,000 to 620,000 flu hospitalizations and 20,000 to 52,000 flu deaths nationally, according to the Michigan Flu Focus from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

“Again, if this caused that much illness, we need to slow it down, because we cannot get a tsunami of sick people into our health system, because we simply don’t have enough health providers potentially to manage all that,” Piggott said.

But they hope to be able to manage this virus just as the health care system has been able to manage the influenza virus, he added.

Piggott encouraged the public to take this time to follow the mitigation strategies implemented to reduce the likelihood of transmitting COVID-19 from person to person.

“If ultimately we all look back at that to say, ‘Wow, that didn’t turn out so bad. What’s the big deal?’ The reality is: Thank God everybody is trying to do all these right things. And maybe we will make this not as much of an issue.”

Trinity Carey can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 206. Her email address is tcarey@miningjournal.net.