(Spirit Lake)– The Test Iowa Clinic in Spirit Lake will be moving to a new location at the end of the month. That word from Jennifer Gustafson of Lakes Regional Healthcare…
“Beginning Monday, August 31st the clinic will be located at the hospital’s north parking lot on 23rd Street in Spirit Lake, so this is the parking lot that is just outside the hospital’s Admitting Department. It’s also the lot where Spirit Lake Medical Center’s parking lot used to be located. So people can go through there, it’s still going to be a drive through clinic but we’re having to move from the ice rink area because obviously they need to start using that facility and so we’re just moving it to the hospital.”
Gustafson says the overall trend of COVID-19 cases in Dickinson county has been on a downward trajectory recently, but she says they’re concerned that could change in the near future given the time of year we’re going into…
“We also want people to be cognizant that they really still need to be diligent in wearing a mask and being social distanced from others because we are coming up, you know we will be in the next couple of months coming up on flu season; it’s the time of year when people get colds and, you know, people are probably going to start wondering do I have the flu, do I have a cold, do I have Covid, what do I have? And so we really encourage people to just come and get tested. That’s the only way to really know. So we anticipate that the numbers will probably increase more as school starts and as the weather turns colder.”
Gustafson says as of this (Fri.) morning there have been a total of 396 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Dickinson county since the pandemic started…
“So that’s about one in 43 residents in Dickinson county who have been confirmed with COVID-19. Of those, only 16 are still active. We have had, unfortunately, six deaths which is a 1.5% death rate among those who have been positive with Covid. Interestingly we have had quite a few people come in to the hospital. So today for example we have four patients with COVID-19 in the hospital, and cumulatively since we first got a Covid case in March we have had 17 inpatients here at Lakes Regional Healthcare. We know that there have been more that have gone to Avera McKennan in Sioux Falls but unfortunately we don’t know what those numbers are.”
Some new hours will also be going in effect once the local Test Iowa Clinic moves to its new location August 31st. They will be Mondays from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm; Tuesdays through Thursdays from 7:00 am to 9:00 am and 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm; and Fridays from 7:00 am to 9:00 am. The clinic will be closed Labor Day and will be open Tuesday, September 8th from 8:00 am until 4:00 pm.
