Identifying Criteria for COVID-19 Testing Sites in South Carolina - an Interprofessional Approach

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread through South Carolina, a need for widespread testing sites emerged. This collaborative project brought together an interprofessional cohort of students and professors from Clemson University and the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) to develop criteria for COVID-19 testing sites based on greatest need. The goals of this project were to identify important demographic, geographic, and site level criteria for both drive-thru and walk-up COVID-19 testing sites. To identify and rank testing site criteria, a series of literature reviews and interviews with a panel of experts were conducted by both Clemson and MUSC faculty and students. After this step, criteria were weighted based on importance using a Delphi approach. Two surveys were completed by experts with background in immunology, public health, emergency response, and hospital administration. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was then used to identify zip codes with greatest need for testing sites based on weighted criteria. Based on our methodology, twenty-five zip codes in South Carolina were identified as high priority. In addition, site-level criteria were developed to ensure drive-thru and walk-up testing sites were outfitted for optimal productivity. Based on GIS results and site-level criteria, testing sites within identified zip codes were suggested based on accessibility for the community. Overall, this project demonstrated the use of geographical information systems as a valuable analytic tool when used to identify areas of increased need for COVID-19 testing sites. Based on our results, the combination of an interprofessional team utilizing clinical, public health, architecture, and GIS personnel was found to be beneficial in tracking COVID-19 in South Carolina, and a GIS interactive model displaying low, medium, and high priority zip codes requiring additional testing sites was published by our student and faculty research team. Our hope is that this methodology can be utilized if and when a similar challenge such as COVID-19 emerges; and the use of wide-spread targeted testing is needed.