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RECORD: 169,000 corona samples were analyzed in Norway last week, reports Helse Sør-Øst. Photo: Gisle Oddstad
The turnaround time for Innlandet’s covid-19 samples has been too long in the past two weeks, Helse Sørøst reports. The explanation is that Ahus has failed to remove him.
The health fund claims Thursday that Akershus University Hospital in Lørenskog has had extraordinary challenges taking samples from the Inland.
– The waiting time has been mainly four days, sometimes five days, for hundreds of our samples this week, says the mayor of Hamar Einar Busterud to VG.
Ahus receives covid-19 samples from Gjøvik, Elverum, Lillehammer and Hamar inside, in addition to samples from his own recording area.
Missing deliveries
– We have some challenges related to the lack of deliveries of reagents for the analysis of the samples, says the director of the division of diagnosis and technology of Ahus Janne Pedersen.
TESTING: Sel Therese Infection Control Doctor Renaa performs a coronation test in April. Photo: Geir Olsen
It states that the average response time last week was 1.67 days. For tests that are related to outbreaks and that are urgent, responses are available within 24 hours.
– Non-priority samples are analyzed as quickly as possible. The turnaround time for these is currently up to three days, says the division director who is the head of Ahus laboratories.
The interior paints a different picture:
- Gjøvik councilor Magnus Mathisen has examples that it has been five days from testing to positive response to infection, according to Oppland Arbeiderblad.
- Mayor Einar Busterud in Hamar sent a report of concern to the county governor due to the long wait for test results, according to Hamar Arbeiderblad.
- The Eidsvoll Municipality announced on Tuesday on the website that it could take up to seven days to get a test result. Today Thursday was changed to 3-5 days.
TEST ROD: This is what the test rod looks like up close. Photo: Gisle Oddstad
– How to follow tracks in the snow
The mayor of Hamar tells VG that the long wait can be a mental strain for those who are waiting for an answer and detect the infection locally:
– They are like following footprints in the snow: the longer it takes, the more invisible they become. The risk of spread also increases, the longer it takes, says Einar Busterud.
Hamar municipal chief doctor Ketil Egge has received critical comments from parents who had their children tested and kept away from school and their friends:
– When symptoms pass quickly, but young people have to be quarantined for 5-6 days because test results do not arrive, there is a danger that compliance will be poor the next time they have a headache or nasal congestion . So the unnecessarily long quarantine and waiting for test results could be perceived as unreasonable punishment, Egge tells VG.
Janne Pedersen tells VG that Ahus Labs’ goal is a response time of less than two days, also for samples that are not linked to outbreaks.
– In the last few weeks, Ahus’s lab has had a big increase in the number of corona samples. We analyzed a total of 14,851 samples in week 45, says the division director of Ahus.
NEW LABORATORY: Responsible Physician Regine Barlind, Clinic Director Andreas Matussek and Department Director Fredrik Müller in the new laboratory of the Oslo University Hospital. On Wednesday, they analyzed more than 5,000 corona samples. Photo: Terje Bringedal
Hamar tests for Oslo
Starting Friday, the health fund will take several steps to “remedy the situation” in Ahus:
- The Hamar and Elverum samples are sent to the Oslo HF University Hospital.
- Other laboratories in the region temporarily handle various analyzes themselves, so the Oslo University Hospital has the capacity to handle the Inland samples.
- Sykehuset Innlandet HF performs a few more analyzes over a period of time.
- The logistics around sample shipments are improved with more auto routes.
- Ahus has received increased supplies of equipment and is strengthening its analytical skills.
Transportation is delayed
At the Laboratory Medicine Clinic of the Oslo University Hospital (OUS), the number of samples is increasing day by day. More than 5,200 covid-19 samples were analyzed on Wednesday.
For the Oslo samples, the average response time is 28 hours. For samples from some test stations at Telemark and Vestfold, the response has been 30 to 50 hours.
– Most of this is due to delays due to transport of samples, informs VG the head of the department of microbiology at OUS, Professor Fredrik Müller.
The hospital is working to improve transportation routines and aims for a maximum response time of one day, but admits that the goal is very difficult to achieve.
– We have such a large number of samples that it is demanding to classify samples related to outbreaks. Once the samples have reached the laboratory, the turnaround time is dispatched in 6-8 hours, Müller says.
