Chattanooga hospitals CHI Memorial, Erlanger Health System and Parkridge Health System will no longer administer COVID-19 tests to patients with mild symptoms in their emergency rooms, according to a joint statement released on Friday.
The decision was made to allow staff to spend more time caring for an increasing number of patients suffering from medical emergencies such as chest pain, difficulty breathing, stroke symptoms or other conditions that require urgent medical attention. Patients with more significant symptoms such as worsening shortness of breath will still be tested, the release states.
People with mild symptoms such as a runny nose, persistent cough or change in taste and smell are encouraged to visit their local health department’s website for testing site locations.
The number of COVID-19 patients in Hamilton County hospitals reached a record high of 244 on Thursday as an unrelenting coronavirus surge pushes health systems across the region to the brink. Of those hospitalized patients, 65 were in need of intensive care and 103 were Hamilton County residents, according to data from the Hamilton County Health Department.
– Compiled by Kim Sebring