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BELLEFONTE -- With the COVID-19 testing site at the Nittany Mall in its seventh and potentially final week, the Centre County Board of Commissioners discussed extending a contract with AMI Expeditionary Healthcare at Tuesday's meeting.
The final day for testing at the site of the old Bon-Ton department store is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 19. The testing site has been paid for by CARES Act funding.
The testing site will not be operational during Christmas week (Dec. 20-26) and New Year's week (Dec. 27-Jan. 2), according to county administrator Margaret Gray.
"They (AMI) are not standing up the site during Christmas week or the week after, in part because they are changing labs. They think that a change of labs will help us to turn around results to our citizens more quickly," Gray said. "They need a week between Christmas and New Year's to do that."
However, the site could return in 2021, if the commissioners see a need. Testing could resume on Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021.
According to Gray, the Pennsylvania Department of Health will be returning to Centre County to perform its own testing in mid-February. An extended contract with AMI for the month of January could help bridge the gap, Gray said.
"I do know that the Department of Health, through conversations with them, is planning to bring back a testing site in mid-February. We have a bridge that needs to be considered between the holiday and the middle of February," Gray noted.
Chair of the Board of Commissioners, Michael Pipe, said that the site has gotten plenty of use over the past several weeks.
"As we do know, there has been utilization at the site, especially after the Thanksgiving holiday," Pipe said. "I do think we are going to see more travel after Christmas and after the New Year as well. I'd be in support of checking with them to see what it would look like for testing in January and to see what levels they could provide, what that would look like. I think our community would appreciate it."
Pipe said that the Board of Commissioners could approve using AMI at a meeting later this month in preparation for January. AMI charges the county $73,703 per week to operate the site. The site typically averages around 125 tests per day.
Commissioner Mark Higgins said that he's in favor of continuing free testing in the county.
"I have surfaced two other potential suppliers for these services. I think the issue we have with suppliers is they're more of a variable cost, so if we have 100 or 150 people a day showing up for testing, it might be less than AMI. But since AMI's model is mostly fixed cost with a smaller variable portion, if we start having say 300 or 400 people a day show up, I think AMI is the more cost-effective option," Higgins said.
He lauded AMI for the work they've done over the past several weeks.
"To the best of my knowledge overall, they've been a fabulous supplier. They've been doing good work. Except on the days when they're absolutely completely overwhelmed, they're customer service has been quite good," Higgins said.
Commissioner Steve Dershem said that while he's in favor of extending the contract with AMI, he doesn't see the need to have the testing site for several weeks.
"I don't have any problem having some negotiations. I don't know what the duration of the contract would be. I don't see it being five or six weeks. I don't know how much money we have left in our CARES Act kitty to pay for it. Ultimately, I'd be looking at least a couple of weeks after the Christmas holiday to monitor people who have traveled and then have the opportunity to test," Dershem said.
According to Gray, the commissioners will need to make a decision soon.
"(AMI) are much in demand," Gray said. "They will need to know at some point sooner rather than later."
The Centre County Board of Commissioners will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 22. That meeting will be televised live by C-NET.