LANSING, Mich. — As the demand for coronavirus testing increases, so does the demand on labs to produce results, leading to delays.
In Michigan, more than 20,000 tests per day on average were conducted in the last week.
“There has been a consistent increase in the amount of testing that we’ve been seeing and we’re seeing our Frandor site certainly up to over 1,000 people in a day being serviced at that particular site,” Dr. James Richard, Medical Director at Sparrow Labs, said.
The increasing surge is leaving labs overwhelmed. In an automated message, CVS’s Minute Clinic said wait times have been extended because of it.
“There is currently extremely high demand for COVID-19 tests due to the increase in cases in certain parts of the country,” the message said. “This has caused backlogs for our lab partners who are responsible for processing the samples collected at CVS locations.”
Richard said that’s the case across the country.
“All labs are seeing delays,” Richard said. “We’re seeing that across the nation, whether it’s San Diego or it’s Richmond, Virginia. It doesn’t matter.”
Sparrow Labs is a reference center, handling testing for not only their hospital but also other labs and physician offices. They average 1,500 tests a day.
Richard says if labs can't inform people that they're infected in time, it can cause more spread.
“It worries me in that we have a lot of testing demand and what it does is, it stresses the system,” Richard said. “We only have a capacity for so many tests, and so consequently, some tests aren’t going to be able to be done in a timely enough fashion to impact people who need to be quarantined.”
Currently, Sparrow Labs is producing results in about four to five days, but at other labs like Quest Diagnostics and Lab Corps, wait times are up to 6 to 10 business days.
“We’re limited because of reagents and we’re limited because of different supplies and equipment that is being demanded all over the world,” said Richard.
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