Deaconess administered more than 170K COVID-19 tests in 2020 Deaconess administered more than 170K COVID-19 tests in 2020 By Joseph Payton | December 29, 2020 at 7:01 PM CST - Updated December 29 at 7:01 PM EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - After testing numbers decreased during the week of Christmas, health officials at Deaconess anticipate those numbers to return to normal. Director of Microbiology Dr. April Abbott says last week was a little slow, with just over 1,000 being tested each day. On average, Deaconess tests between 1,200-1,800 people for COVID-19 each day. On Monday, more than 1,200 new requests for testing were received. On Monday, officials in Colorado have confirmed a case of the new strain of COVID-19 in their state. Dr. Abbott says the tests being done locally look at three different genes. This means that even if there was a variant in one of those genes, the test would be able to detect the virus in the other two.