Monitoring seasonal influenza - “but not to do diagnostic testing Their main function is regular public health surveillance -ĭetecting more common threats such as outbreaks of measles or Those labs can’t possibly do all that’s needed. The CDC has a better kit, and 94 public health labs across theĬountry do COVID-19 testing, said Wroblewski. Only a few public health labs and the federal Centers for DiseaseĬontrol and Prevention processed COVID-19 tests. But even for those labs, as demand grows, so does the backlog. Some labs have larger staffs and more machines, so they can process more tests at a time than others. “Typically, a PCR test takes six hours from start to finish to complete,” said Kelly Wroblewski, director of infectious disease programs at the Association of Public Health Laboratories. The RNA is extracted, technicians also must carefully mix specialĬhemicals with each sample and run those combinations in a machineįor analysis, a process called polymerase chain reaction (PCR), whichĬan detect whether the sample is positive or negative for COVID. “Only the very biggest labs haveĪutomated ways of extracting RNA from a sample and doing it quickly.” Said Cathie Klapperich, vice chair of the department of biomedicalĮngineering at Boston University. Step of cleaning, the RNA extraction step, is one limiting factor,” Transit time usually runs about 24 hours, but it could be longer,ĭepending on how far the hospital is from the processing lab.Īt the lab, the specimen is processed, which means lab workersĮxtract the virus’s RNA, the molecule that helps regulate genes. Hospitals have on-site molecular test labs, but most samples are sent That swab goes into a tube and is sent to a lab. It’s A Multistep ProcessĪ sample is taken from a patient’s nose or throat, using a special Is now being criticized for not self-quarantining during that time.Īsked experts to help explain why the turn-around time for resultsĬan vary widely - from hours to days or even a week - and how Rand Paul (R-Ky.) didn’t get his positive test results
Testing ability in hot spots across the U.S.), there can be aįrustratingly long wait for results - not just hours, but oftenĭays. Under emergency rules set by the Food and Drug Administration.Įven for people who are able to get tested (and there’s still a big Sites established in some places and new types of tests approved With giant commercial labs jumping into the effort, drive-up testing A slow start, testing for COVID-19 has ramped up in recent weeks,
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