PULASKI, N.Y. (NCC News) – In central New York and around the country, it’s tough to find a COVID-19 test that is both accurate and fast. But one location in the region, Pulaski Urgent Care, has been offering rapid testing for the past three months, and just two weeks ago, the Urgent Care received a new analyzer that conducts COVID-19 tests even more quickly and accurately. Pulaski Urgent Care Physician’s Assistant Rodney Richmond said having the rapid testing analyzers makes a huge difference in the community.
“The real strength of rapid testing is to rapidly identify positives so they can be identified, their contacts can be identified and people can be quarantined when necessary,” Richmond said. “So in both cases, they’re extremely important in controlling the spread of the disease and the pandemic.”
The test Pulaski Urgent Care has been using for the past three months is the Sofia-2 Analyzer. Richmond said they got access to the Sofia tests because they already had the machine for testing for lyme disease, the flu, etc. The Sofia returns test results accurately around 80% of the time, and all negative tests were sent to a lab to confirm the results.
The new analyzer is called the Abbott, which arrived about two weeks ago. The Abbott returns tests in less than 15 minutes with accurate results 95%-97% of the time. Richmond said patients love it because it is quick and easy.
“It’s less invasive,” Richmond said. “The swab doesn’t have to go back into the nasal fairings as does the original swabs, so it’s much better tolerated.”
Patient Craig Dennis was one of many to receive a rapid test on Tuesday. He said he and his family had an easy experience getting tested.
“It worked,” Dennis said. “It was nice that we were able to do that. I wish this was available everywhere.”
Dennis, his wife and two kids are from Portland, Oregon. They’re in central New York visiting their in-laws, and all four needed a negative test to visit their relatives, including the kids’ grandmother.
“She’s immunocompromised,” Dennis said. “So if we wouldn’t have gotten a test, we would’ve had an extra five days on the vacation where we would’ve had to wait, so that’s one of the reasons we wanted to get the rapid test for sure.”
Richmond said it wasn’t uncommon for people to come all the way to Pulaski from across the state to get a rapid test. He said his furthest visitors prior to Dennis and his family arriving and taking a test were from Long Island and Buffalo.
Richmond also said especially with flu season here, being able to rapidly test patients for COVID-19 is a game changer.
“It’s critical that we can identify folks that are positive for COVID, screen them out and keep them separate from the high-risk patients that come to this location for similar or other reasons,” Richmond said.
Richmond also said he thinks other facilities in central New York and New York state will be acquiring rapid test machines such as the Abbott in the near future.
“I would be very surprised if they don’t,” Richmond said.
