OptumServe and ISDH to test for COVID-19 in Putnam County

Friday, May 8, 2020

The Putnam County Health Department, along with the Putnam County EMA, is working with OptumServe and the Indiana State Department of Health to offer additional testing for COVID-19 in the county.

The testing site will open May 13 at the Putnam County Fairgrounds in the York Automotive Community Building. The site will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Registration is required.

Residents can register for a test at https://lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling (888) 634-1116.

Residents will not be charged for testing and insurance is not required. Citizens with private health insurance should bring that information with them to their appointment.

The testing site will close June 5, 2020.

Who can get tested at this site?

The ISDH and PCH are continuing to focus on testing our highest-risk Hoosiers to quickly provide results needed to protect the most vulnerable residents. Those individuals include:

- Symptomatic health care workers (inpatient, outpatient, nursing home and other long-term service facilities) and first responders who provide direct care to at-risk patients.

- Symptomatic long-term care facility staff who have direct contact with patients.

- Persons experiencing homelessness.

- Patients age 65 or older with symptoms consistent with COVID-19.

- Patients with underlying health conditions with symptoms of COVID-19, including lung or heart disease, or who are immunocompromised, obese or pregnant women.

- Individuals who are symptomatic for COVID-19

- Close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 positive patients when it is imperative that the contact continues to work and/or have close contact with at risk populations.

What should I do if I think I need a test?

If you think you have been exposed to COVID-19 and develop a fever and symptoms, such as cough or difficulty breathing, call your healthcare provider for medical advice.

If you have a medical appointment, call your doctor’s office or emergency department, and tell them you have or may have COVID-19. This will help the office protect themselves and other patients.

You can also consult a healthcare provider through telehealth.

It is imperative individuals take action to avoid COVID-19 to prevent its spread. A number of preventive steps include:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol.

• Don’t touch your eyes, nose, or mouth, especially with unwashed hands.

• Avoid close contact with people who are showing symptoms of illness.

• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

• Cover your cough or sneezes with a tissue or sneeze into your elbow.

• Throw the tissue in the garbage and make sure to clean your hands afterwards.

• Stay home when you are sick.

• Wear face coverings in public when performing essential duties.

• We are all in this together.

Comments
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  • Go sheople get er done🤣

    They be tracking and chipping next

    I WILL NOT COMPLY

    -- Posted by Blueberry63 on Sat, May 9, 2020, at 2:30 PM
  • It’s a big leap from testing for a virus to implanting chips. I like a good conspiracy as much as the next guy but that’s just ridiculous.

    -- Posted by techphcy on Sat, May 9, 2020, at 3:19 PM
  • Tracking and chipping, lol.

    -- Posted by unbiased on Sat, May 9, 2020, at 5:51 PM
  • We are very fortunate to have that availability here in Putnam County. I hope I never need it but hopefully it will help out a lot of people to further prevent the spread of this virus.

    -- Posted by Nit on Sat, May 9, 2020, at 5:55 PM
  • *

    Funny how people laugh at the "absurdity" of tracking and chipping when the CDC itself endorses the very planning and implementation of "contact tracing" (see https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/principles-contact-tracing.html for more on this, specifically the "Social services and housing will be needed for contacts..." section) while one of the leading organizations already responsible for chipping people is named "Three Square Market" (see https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/08/17/140994/this-company-embeds-microchip... for more on this). As of right now, the optional microchips haven't been mandated...yet. Through time, just like with self-driving automotive technologies which will slowly remove your ability to control your own car, you'll see various forces incorporating mandates of these things until they worm their way into everyday life, always for your own good, of course. They'll likely come in the forms of cost reductions or tech companies that slyly force dependence using subtle software updates and planned obsolescence. The moment you hear the dreaded words, "they're all doing it," it's too late.

    The key terms here are "incrementalism" and "invisible hand."

    Look, you'd have to be an idiot to believe that organizations haven't considered trying to *incrementally* incorporate these avenues of control onto their employees when it's already being done on a smaller scale (i.e. - finer and finer control of your apparel, continually constraining what you're allowed to do or look at on employer-provided workstations and other devices, tracking your transportation using things like LoJack or any other forms of GPS tracking, non-work related social media surveillance; required random drug screenings, mandated workshops for things ranging from racial sensitivity certifications to gender appreciation awareness; ever-encroaching bio-metric and finger print authentication policies, annual mandatory physical screenings precluded by employer-approved physical activity regimens used to determine insurance tiers, and required tobacco affidavits signed by employees for fear of higher deductibles or premiums, all the information of these things being uploaded into databases you have no control over but that people you've never met being provided unfettered access to without notice and accessible from anywhere in the world via the internet).

    Read between the lines of what's unfolding and acknowledge what you're being obtuse to because the moment you accept the harsh reality of what's happening and stop being complicit to it, you become part of a resistance too often accused of being infected with paranoia: a modern, honest-to-god pandemic nobody ever seems to care much about until it's too late.

    Remember these words:

    "First they came for the classroom and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a student.

    Then they came for the worker and I didn't speak up because I wasn't working.

    When nobody else was left to speak up, they eventually came for me."

    ...because when the snowball finally crashes into the tree, it's already too late. Think I'm wearing a tinfoil hat? Fine. Give it some time and we'll see who has the last laugh.

    -- Posted by DouglasQuaid on Sat, May 9, 2020, at 10:12 PM
  • I wasn't a good learner in high school, but I do remember a history teacher talking about the SOCIAL CONTRACT. A guy named Rousseau, who lived in France four or five centuries ago, came up with a theory that the weak demand from the government, who in turn demand the weak give up something in return. It starts incrementally at first, but it eventually gets out of hand for all parties involved and in most countries even overwhelms the resistance. I hope I learned that correctly. It was well over 50 years ago. I don't think they teach it in high school anymore.

    -- Posted by Prince of Stardust Hills on Mon, May 11, 2020, at 1:26 AM
  • Why would they need to chip us? 98% of us voluntarily carry a tracker everywhere we go, and pay for the privilege.

    -- Posted by techphcy on Mon, May 11, 2020, at 10:21 PM
  • *

    @techphcy, I think you're mistaking one thing for the other. But I get what you're saying.

    -- Posted by DouglasQuaid on Mon, May 11, 2020, at 11:58 PM
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