HealthPartners Begins COVID-19 Testing In White Bear Lake

William Bornhoft
·1 min read

WHITE BEAR LAKE, MN — Drive-up testing sites for coronavirus have been developed at HealthPartners clinics in White Bear Lake and in St. Louis Park, where care teams can test 300-400 symptomatic patients a day. With the additional capacity, HealthPartners is now able to test 2,000 patients every day in total.

Testing begins with screening

HealthPartners offers tests by appointment for all symptomatic patients. Patients begin the process by calling their clinic for a short screening assessment. Based on symptom severity and risk factors, patients will be:

  • Scheduled directly at a drive-up testing location (appointment required);

  • Referred for an in-person visit and testing at a HealthPartners respiratory center; or

  • Referred to a clinician for additional evaluation

The screening assessment helps patients quickly get the right care for their needs, according to a news release. It's more convenient for the majority of people because most won’t need the additional step of scheduling an appointment with their clinician before testing.

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"Testing symptomatic patients is the first step toward understanding the total burden of COVID-19," stated Dr. Mark Sannes, Senior Medical Director at HealthPartners.

"Moving forward, we will be partnering with the Minnesota Department of Health on the important next step of contact tracing and quarantine of exposed individuals."

Find out more here.

This article originally appeared on the Stillwater Patch