‘Get your child vaccinated’ says UofL Health doctor amid spike in COVID tests

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - There has been an increase in the number of families getting tested for COVID-19 at UofL Health Urgent Care Plus location in Buechel.

Dr. Lydia Samples said testing has increased in the last couple of weeks. The majority of the tests have been performed on families after someone they know has also tested positive for the virus.

“Our numbers have gone up,” Samples said. “From three to four weeks ago, we were at 26 patients for the weekend. Now we’re at 100 patients sometimes in a day coming for testing.”

Samples added that the Buechel clinic has been offering the COVID vaccine since May, but there hasn’t been an increase in people getting it, even with the spreading Delta variant and kids going back to school. As a result, she said the increase in testing could be attributed to families who are not vaccinated, or to children who are not able to get the shot, leading to the spread of the virus.

“The impact of the patients we’ve been seeing are unvaccinated, or unable to be vaccinated children,” Samples said. “So, a lot of kids 11 and below. So, some 5-year-olds, some 4-year-olds, some 7-year-olds, we’ve been seeing kids in that age group.”

She added that many young adult patients in their 20s coming into the clinic have decided not to be vaccinated.

“I wish that we would see people realizing the vaccine is safe, that masks are safe,” Samples said. “That there’s not some of these conspiracy theories of infertility and carbon monoxide poisoning and all the things that we’ve seen.”

Parents on the fence about the vaccine for themselves or their kids shouldn’t be concerned, Samples said, especially since it has already been available for over six months.

“After six months, you’ve had a fairly good trial in the community,” she said. “We’re not seeing deaths, we’re not seeing any injury in children, and I feel like it’s completely safe for children to get the vaccine. ... It’s time to get your child vaccinated.”

The UofL Urgent Care Plus centers offers vaccinations and rapid-result COVID-19 tests, which gives a positive or negative result within 15 minutes.

For a complete list of Urgent Care Plus locations, click here.