UPDATED: Local community testing has been suspended as of Thursday evening. Albany Medical Center and St. Peter's are instructing people who suspect they have COVID-19 symptoms to self-quarantine at home, separating oneself from people and animals, except for medical appointments. See related story.

ALBANY COUNTY — Albany Medical Center is using the incident command structure it developed in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorists’ attacks in 2001 to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, the center’s president, Dennis McKenna, said at a press conference Wednesday.

The center erected a 30-by120-foot white tent outside of its emergency department to handle testing for COVID-19.

In the last six days, it has tested 1,402 people. People can come with an appointment if their doctors think they meet the criteria for testing or they can simply walk in and staff will see if they meet the criteria.

Symptoms include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. To sign up for a test, go online to www.AMC.edu and click on the link at top, McKenna said.

The single test consists of taking two swabs — one in the mouth and the other nasal. It takes several days for patients who have been tested at the tent to get results.

McKenna estimates Albany Med has two to three days left of testing kits. “We are dependent on availability of tests,” he said. “If kits are in short supply, they will be kept for patients in-house or the population most at risk.”

The center expects to give the public 24-hour notice when it has to shift its strategy to prioritizing tests for patients in the hospital and for vulnerable populations like the elderly and those with underlying health problems.

McKenna said that the center is following government directives which is “now still a containment philosophy.” He went on, “If it turns to mitigation, we’ll shift.”

Currently, Albany Med has a total of six patients who have tested positive for COVID-19: five patients are on medical floors and one is in the intensive care unit, said McKenna.

Patients Under Investigation, known as PUIs — based on symptoms — are closely monitored until tests come back.

As of yesterday, Albany Med did some testing internally, Ferdinand Venditti, executive vice president for System Care Delivery and the hospital’s general director, told the press. “Our virology department has been working hard to become validated by the FDA,” he said, referring to the Federal Drug Administration.

But, he said, Albany Med is constrained by outside resources. “We have only 300 reagents,” Venditti said.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has raised concerns that, when the coronavirus peaks, perhaps in 45 days, New York State will fall far short of having the hospital rooms and the ventilators needed to treat patients. (See related story.)

“Right now, we have over 80 negative pressure rooms,” Venditti said. These isolation rooms have ventilation that allows air to flow in but not out, and so prevents contaminated air from escaping; the rooms are used to isolate patients with airborne contagious diseases.

Venditti said other areas of the hospital had been evaluated to set up negative-pressure isolation if needed.

Venditti also said that Albany Med has over 75 adult ventilators with only half of them currently in use. The hospital also has “adequate numbers” of specialized ventilators for children and neonates, he said.

“There’s definitely concern there will not be enough ventilators,” he said in answer to a reporter’s question. “We will do everything to improve our supply,” he said, noting, “We’ve leased half a dozen.”

Venditti also said, if Albany Med can get more ventilators through state or national allocation, it will. He said, too, “We have a lot of staff used to managing ventilators.”

For two months, Albany Med has tracked sterile supplies and has adequate supplies of masks and gowns, he said. Finally, Venditti said, the hospital cleans and disinfects in a process that is “more than adequate.”

Hospital staff have been instructed in “donning and doffing” — that is, putting on and taking off — protective gear, he said.

Venditti said that Albany Med participates in a conference call every morning with 11 other area facilities to have “frank conversations” and to share detailed information. “We want a consistent approach,” he said, citing the visitors’ guidelines that had been agreed upon last Friday.

Albany Med, like other area hospitals, has instituted strict policies on visitors and vendors, screening each one with a series of questions and limiting access once in the hospital. (See related story.)

“Our top priority is to take care of our health-care workers and our patients,” said Rebecca  O’Donnell, the hospital’s director of epidemiology. “It is inevitable a health-care worker will be infected,” she said, explaining the hospital has a system that “we stay home when we are sick.”

McKenna praised Albany Med’s staff for “stepping up” to help when needed. The hospital has a system to quickly credential retired medical staff if they care to work in the midst of the pandemic.

“This is why people go into medicine … They want to take care of anyone with anything at any time,” said McKenna.