PEORIA (WEEK) -- The Peoria City/County Health Department says four people have been tested for novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the county, with two of those being negative results.

The other two tests are pending results, health officials said at a press conference Thursday at the Peoria County Emergency Operations Center.

"The goal of what the health department is doing, the goal of what the nation is doing is try to lower the peak of the cases. " said Dr. Samer Sader, UnityPoint Health Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Sader said hospitals have to make sure they can maintain care for all patients and keep ICU beds open.

"In a country like Italy which is similar to us, when they got overwhelmed, that's when the fatalities started to increase, so you have more people passing away just because we may not have the resources to care for them." said Dr. Sader

It's limiting exposure through the cancelation of large group events that Dr. Sader believes we are protecting our at risk populations.

The Departments Medical Director said patients still have to fall into one of the three categories to be tested for COVID-19: Close contact with a confirmed case, travel to an affected area, and severe symptoms with no other cause.

The officials say a primary care physician should be the first point of contact and they will determine if a test is needed and they will coordinate how it will be completed.

"It is a providers recommendation that someone should be tested and that we ask individuals that think that they might have it to call their provider first." said Monica Hendrickson, Public Health Administrator

Dr. Sader said the public has to remember this is a novel virus.

"The reality is I don't have a medicine to give you that will make it go away or get better quicker so what we're really looking at is if you're positive right now we want to trace it so that we know who is at risk." said Sader

Health officials said there are about 10 to 15 people in self quarantine in Peoria County.

The public health administrator said once the test for the virus causing COVID-19 is administered results are quick, usually the next day, but the bigger issue is a shortage of tests.