Huntsville Hospital Fever & Flu Clinics seeing steady drop in number of patients

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - It’s now been more than a month since Huntsville Hospital set up a testing site on Governor’s Drive.

It’s still open from 9 to 5 every weekday, but the hospital says fewer and fewer people are coming.

Now, only about 50 people per day are actually being tested here.

But Greg Lochner with Huntsville Hospital tells me not a lot has changed as far as how Huntsville Hospital is running the clinic.

You still have to show symptoms to be tested.

At first, there was a rush of people coming to get tested, about 200 per day.

That’s not a problem any more, but fewer people are coming in. About 70 show up for tests every day.

Only about 70 percent of those meet the criteria to get tested.

And only a handful actually test positive. But Lochner tells me the amount of patients showing up is not the only thing that’s gone down.

“I believe the fear has gone down. A lot of patients are not just showing up fearful that they have the virus and just wanting to be tested because of that. So I feel like that’s gotten much better as well,” Lochner said.

Lochner also tells me fewer people have been coming to the hospital for non-corona emergencies because they’re afraid of the virus.

If you have an emergency, Lochner says it is safe to come to the ER and get checked out.

If you were tested for COVID-19 at the Huntsville Hospital Fever & Flu Clinic or a mobile site and have not received your results after 7 days, you’re asked to call: call (256) 817-1001.

This line is answered Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The hospital has a clinical team that notifies patients as soon as their test results are available from the lab.

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