“The virus is still present in our community and it is spreading, at a faster rate than before,” Brian Floyd, president of ECU Health Medical Center said.

Which is why staying ahead of increasing cases of COVID-19 is so important.

“At the outset of our awareness of COVID-19, the teams at Vidant Health came together and said, ‘what will be necessary to prevent its spread in the East?’ And one of the key objectives would be to find it, find it fast and know where it is so we can minimize it,” Floyd said.

Enter rapid testing and the ability to screen for COVID-19 across the region.

“We have a large-scale testing capability, so if there is a concern we want our public to seek out testing so that we can help make sure that we find, and minimize the spread of this virus in our region,” Floyd said.

Because the faster it’s found, the faster it can be dealt with.

“That’s what Vidant has been building,” Floyd said. “Thousands of tests can be done a day and returned within 24 hours because of the investments we made in building up this capability very early in the COVID-19 battle.”

In addition to rapid testing, Vidant is the only health system to partner with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on their community testing initiative.

Having testing centers in place across the East is an important part of facing the pandemic heat-on. But it’s not a battle that can be won by hospitals and health systems alone.

“So it’s really important that we wash our hands frequently, we socially distance, and that we wear masks when around other people to help prevent the spread,” Floyd said.