SAQ: What would wider testing mean to local hospitals, the city?

Your COVID-19 questions answered

SAN ANTONIO – More COVID-19 testing will soon come to San Antonio. The San Antonio Metropolitan Health District is expected to loosen testing criteria to include anyone experiencing symptoms of the virus.

Our viewers wanted to know how this would effect not only the city but the local hospital system.

SAQ: How big of a problem has testing been in San Antonio? What would wider testing mean for the city?

Emergency room doctor Robert A. Frolichstein said right now he sees a high volume of patients with flu-like symptoms but who do not have the new coronavirus.

The ability to test more people could lower the risk of viral spread by keeping people quarantined at home and out of the hospital if they aren’t sick enough to be hospitalized.

Futhermore, Frolichstein said “People who know they have a diagnosis are much better at doing the quarantining that is so important when a patient does go home with that illness.”

Read more: Wider testing coming to San Antonio, any symptomatic patients

Find more answers and ask your own questions on our SAQ page. Watch anchor Steve Spriester ask local leaders your questions weeknights at 6 p.m. on KSAT12 and 9 p.m. on KSAT-TV and KSAT.com. You can also sign up for our free SAQ newsletter to get answers to the most common questions in your inbox.


About the Authors

Steve Spriester started at KSAT in 1995 as a general assignments reporter. Now, he anchors the station's top-rated 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.

A San Antonio native currently in her dream job as the executive producer behind KSAT special programming like Fiesta parades, Dia De Los Muertos and the Rodeo special. When she's not prepping for these productions, she's helping run KSAT's social media channels.

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