HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — As COVID-19 numbers are down across the board and continue in a decline, Marshall is changing its hours for the testing tent and hotline, effective Monday.
Marshall Health announced in recent days that its COVID-19 drive-thru testing site at Marshall University Medical Center/Cabell Huntington Hospital will be open 8 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday. The drive-thru is located at 1600 Medical Center Drive next to the Marshall Health and Cabell Huntington Hospital parking garage.
The Marshall Health COVID-19 Hotline at 304-696-2900 will also now be open 8 a.m. to noon, Monday through Friday to answer questions and concerns about COVID-19.
Dr. Joe Evans, Chief Medical Officer for Marshall Health told MetroNews the move comes as the demand is not there.
“The first two weeks of January we averaged over 300 tests a day, we might have up to 500 on a given day. The last two weeks we have averaged less than 30 tests a day,” Evans said.
Evans said in addition to test numbers, calls are down around 90%, from nearly 40 per day months ago to four per day currently.
According to Friday’s report from the state Department of Health and Human Resources, there are 20 active cases in Cabell County. That figure was more than 1,300 in January.
Evans said there are numerous reasons why case totals are down across West Virginia.
“We’ve had a number of people become ill, so they are probably protected. We’ve had a number of people become vaccinated so they are somewhat protected. And just the ebb and flow of the coronavirus itself,” he said.
Marshall Health added that the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration COVID-19 Uninsured Program no longer accepts claims for COVID-19 testing and treatment, effective March 22, nor claims for vaccine administration, effective April 5, 2022. Any individual without insurance will be responsible for the entire cost of COVID-19 testing, similar to any other medical test performed.
Free COVID-19 testing for all community members is available at the Cabell-Huntington Health Department, at 703 Seventh Avenue in Huntington, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Since opening in March 2020, the Marshall Health drive-thru location has performed nearly 70,000 COVID-19 tests.