From supply chain shortages to an overwhelming number of samples to test, U.S. laboratories are struggling to keep up.
The enormous number of Americans getting swabbed for the coronavirus has overwhelmed every step of the COVID-19 testing process, creating shortages of critical supplies in laboratories and inundating them with more specimens than they can process.
"What we have consistently heard from members is that reagents, test kits, pipettes and platforms are all in great demand right now," she said.The backlog could get worse if the outbreak continues on its current trajectory. On Thursday, the United States reached a somber milestone, surpassing 4 million confirmed coronavirus cases nationwide, according to data compiled by NBC News, just 15 days after hitting the 3 million mark.
Mike Geller, a spokesman for LabCorp, said LabCorp has so far performed 7.5 million molecular tests for COVID-19 and is processing 165,000 tests a day, with plans to increase capacity further. The average time to deliver results is three to five days from when a specimen was picked up; before the surge, the turnaround time was one to two days, he said.
"If the demand keeps increasing like it's been increasing over the last couple of weeks, the lab industry will never be able to keep up with it."
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