VALDOSTA – District-wide COVID-19 test results should be more readily available starting this week.

The Lowndes County Board of Health convened Tuesday for its quarterly meeting to discuss the South Health District’s response to the coronavirus and its budget for the coming fiscal year.

During the meeting, Dr. William Grow, South Health District director, addressed the delayed waiting period for COVID-19 tests for the last month. Originally designed to return results in 48 hours, labs around the state couldn’t handle the volume of tests the past month and returned results within eight to nine days, he said.

“Labs were basically overrun by the number of cases,” Grow said.

As of Tuesday, test results for the South Health District should be available within 48 hours, Grow said.

Lowndes residents wanting a COVID-19 test can receive free testing from South Health District at the Lowndes County Health Department, 206 S. Patterson St. The location is open 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8:30 a.m.-noon Saturday. Call (229) 333-5257 to schedule an appointment.

He said state case numbers and death figures from the state health department are encouraging.

“We have seen a plateau in Georgia,” he said but added he will have to see how loosening restrictions and people getting together more will affect case numbers.

Commenting on videos of people in close proximity during the Memorial Day weekend, Grow said health officials won’t see the consequences of this behavior for a couple of weeks due to the 10-14 day gestation period for the coronavirus.

With an uptick in district COVID-19 cases, Grow said a large portion of the jump is due to a May 18 district testing event of 73 migrant farm workers in Echols County. About 40 people (approximately 50%) had tested positive from the May 18 event, he said.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health daily status report, cases in Echols have more than quintupled from 16 cases May 18 to 85 cases Tuesday.

Kristin Patten, district public information officer, said last week positive tests would continue to rise as results returned from the testing event. And case numbers could grow more as Grow said district staff was going to Echols for more testing Tuesday afternoon, per the Migrant Farmworkers Clinic request.

Noting the state recommended a 14% cut for Fiscal Year 2021 for government agencies, members of the board approved a FY2021 budget of a little more than $4.5 million. The district received additional money for the FY2020 budget to cover COVID-19 expenses from and the state will apply for reimbursement through the CARES Act.

When asked how he thought the pandemic would end, Grow responded, “I hope this ends with a vaccine” mentioning two separate companies making headway with vaccine development.

He said a vaccine could arrive as soon as fall or take as long as 18 months.