LabCorp just expanded its coronavirus work to perform 20,000+ tests per day in the US
North Carolina-based LabCorp has announced that it can perform more than 20,000 tests per day for COVID-19 — that’s twice the number of tests as before and nearly one week ahead of the lab’s expected schedule to expand its operations.
“This represents a significant increase in capacity since the company released its COVID-19 test two weeks ago,” officials with the Burlington-based company said in a news release. “The company is working continuously to increase capacity and support the needs of healthcare workers, patients, government, clients and other organizations, and expects capacity to continue to increase.”
The increased capacity for testing began Friday.
LabCorp is “intently focused on making COVID-19 laboratory testing available to patients who are symptomatic and should be tested,” officials said in the news release.
LabCorp added staff to significantly increase its testing capacity, company officials said. The additional testing underway is “a result of approved emergency use authorization,” according to LabCorp.
LabCorp is performing COVID-19 testing at its labs in Burlington, N.C., as well as in Phoenix, Ariz., and Raritan, N.J.
Company officials said their lab does not collect specimens for the test, and “patients for whom testing has been ordered should not be sent to a LabCorp location to have a specimen collected.“
A specimen must be collected at the healthcare facility where the patient was seen and the test was ordered, according to LabCorp. That means a person who needs a test or suspects they’re ill should contact their doctor or local health department directly.
Test results are available three or four days after pickup of the specimen, LabCorp officials said.
LabCorp is one of the handful of lab companies in the country that has received certification from the FDA to test for the virus, The News & Observer has previously reported.
On Friday, meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allowed manufacturers of FDA-approved “non-invasive, vital sign-measuring devices to expand their use so that health care providers can use them to monitor patients remotely,” according to an FDA news release. The devices measure body temperature, respiratory rate, heart rate and blood pressure, according to the FDA.
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 1:08 PM.