Dozens line up for National Guard Coronavirus testing site at Logan High School

Vehicles stretched down the street waiting for the COVID-19 testing site to open at Logan High School Friday morning.

Hosted in collaboration with the school, La Crosse County Health Department, and Wisconsin National Guard, officials were confident in their supply of testing kits.

“We’ve been getting a lot more phone calls about people who haven’t been able to be tested, but today we’re hoping to go through all of our tests for those who do have symptoms and maybe couldn’t make it to their medical provider,” Nicole Kragness, registered sanitarian with La Crosse County Health Department, said.

Rather than a nasopharyngeal swab offered through some health providers, the anterior nares swab used by the National Guard is considered less invasive and painful.

Test results are expected in 3-5 days. Kragness said it was still unclear if the 4th of July holiday celebrations had an impact on the number of local COVID-19 cases.

“If somebody had an exposure over the Fourth of July, we would still be looking at two weeks,” Kragness said. “It is still a little too early to tell.”

The La Crosse County Health Department hoped to host two additional testing sites before assistance from the Wisconsin National Guard ended in August.