BUCKHANNON – Of the more than 300 COVID-19 tests administered Friday during a free testing session at Buckhannon-Upshur High School, just eight positive results were returned, an official with the Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department said Monday.

Health department nurse director Sue McKisic said 322 people were tested for COVID-19 during Friday’s drive-through testing event that wrapped up at 4 p.m.

“We have the test results, and 322 [individuals] were tested with eight positive results,” McKisic told My Buckhannon in an email.

Testing continued Monday, Oct. 5, and is also slated for noon to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6.

McKisic said there wasn’t one particular source of the COVID-19 outbreak locally, as cases have surged over the past week, causing Upshur County to turn ‘red’ on the revised West Virginia Department of Education School Alert Map.

“We have positive cases coming from all areas of the county,” she said. “People need to be vigilant in following the guidelines, and we need to slow this down. As we are busy doing contact tracing, we are not open to do other services and are working seven days a week and into the late evening trying to follow up on these cases.”

“If you get a positive result, you need to quarantine until you are contacted by the health department,” McKisic added. “We will contact you as soon as we can; we have many cases that involve many contacts, and we have not forgotten you. We are working diligently to reach everyone. Please be patient.”

A countywide emergency alert text message sent out late Monday afternoon indicated that residents tested should call 1-855-396-1491, not the health department. However, if you believe you may have been exposed to COVID-19 or someone you’ve been in contact with has tested positive, please contact the health department at 304-472-2810.