Credited to South Korea. The idea was not new in 2020. A drive-through model for evaluating patients during an influenza pandemic was proposed in a 2010 paper in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. South Korea's claim is to the first implementation for COVID-19 and the first large-scale use.
How it began
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, health providers in Korea created drive-through testing centers for the new coronavirus. The method was first implemented on 23 February 2020 at Kyungpook National University Chilgok Hospital in Daegu, during a large community outbreak, and was later expanded to at least 68 more testing centers. Korean doctors described it in the Journal of Korean Medical Science as a safe and efficient screening system.
Before it existed
When the outbreak grew, people with symptoms and worried people without them arrived at hospitals in large numbers, and screening them indoors risked spreading infection and overwhelming emergency departments. Screening outside the hospital had been tried before: during the Ebola epidemic of 2014 to 2016 a hospital in Liberia ran an out-of-hospital screening program. A drive-through approach for an influenza pandemic had been proposed in a 2010 paper but not used at scale.
How it works
The center is set up in a large parking lot away from other patients. Cars follow a designated sequence of stations, and the occupants stay in the vehicle while staff carry out an examination, collect a specimen and give instructions. The car itself keeps each person separated from others waiting to be tested.
How it spread
The model spread quickly beyond Korea. In the United States, the Beaumont Health System in Michigan ran curbside and drive-through screening at eight hospitals from 12 March to 15 April 2020 and screened 7,061 patients. Its report called drive-through screening a ubiquitous part of the community response to COVID-19 that had been adopted in many communities around the world.
What changed first
Drive-through screening diverted patients away from emergency departments that were struggling with acutely ill patients, and helped hospitals manage surges. The Michigan study found it an effective tool to decompress hospitals, while noting that almost 10 percent of those screened later returned to an emergency department, and it recommended that such programs include measures to evaluate their safety.
