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73 COVID-19 tests were administered at the First Baptist Church of Nowata as Nowata County played host to a drive thru clinic on Tuesday afternoon.

Nowata County Emergency Management Director Laurie Summers said the operation went well.

Eight people showed up early for the testing and they waited for the drive thru test site to open at 10:00 a.m. That process lasted until 2:00 p.m.

Only 11 people have tested positive for the coronavirus so far in Nowata County, which does not include those that were tested on Tuesday. Summers said she would not be surprised if the case numbers increased by two to three times that number by the end of the pandemic.

It is uncertain at this time if the drive thru test site will bump the case numbers up that high or not. Summers said she would love to attribute the low case numbers for the coronavirus to county residents handling social distancing well, but she suspects that the lack of testing is the real reason. The best case scenario is that the coronavirus will move through the county a little bit at a time.

Summers said being in a rural county helps minimize the spread of the virus because there are not as many places for people to congregate, but there is no reason to believe that more cases will not arise. Minus the availability of a vaccine, Summers believes we will all be exposed to the virus.

It is estimated that those who test positive and their points of contact will be notified within 48 hours. Summers said no one should be surprised by the results when they are released. She said testing sites have seen either a high number of positive cases, or they have not, but there is no way of telling until the results come back.

People came to the mobile testing site in Nowata County because they were either worried or they felt obligated to get tested. Summers said it was interesting to see the dynamic of people that were getting tested.

Approximately 100 tests were on hand at the drive thru test site in Nowata County on Tuesday. Summers said the left over tests were not unwrapped and that they will be used at the next testing site. She said the goal the health department set was to test 75 people, and they practically met that goal by testing 73 people. This goal was set because they thought that would be a good number to set for a smaller county like Nowata County.

The First Baptist Church of Nowata was thanked for allowing emergency personnel and volunteers to set up shop for the operation to take place. Summers said she also appreciates the help they received from the Nowata Police Department, the Nowata County Sheriff's Office, the Oklahoma State Department of Health, South Coffeyville Emergency Management and Washington County Emergency Management.