Quest Diagnostics, the world’s leading provider of diagnostic information services, said Monday that demand for COVID-19 tests “continues to exceed capacity.”
Demand for molecular testing is highest in the south, southwest and west regions of the country, the company said in a press release.
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The company is taking several steps to expand existing capacity. For example, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Saturday issued an emergency use authorization to Quest Diagnostics to authorize a pooled sample coronavirus test. Testing allows four samples to be tested at once, saving testing resources.
“While we believe that our increases in capacity will help improve response times in the coming weeks, the speed of testing is highly dependent on demand. We believe this dynamic affects not only Quest Diagnostics but the entire laboratory industry, “according to the press release.
Kimberly Gorode, a spokesperson for Quest Diagnostics, in an email statement to Fox News, said the company is offering pooled tests at the Chantilly, Virginia, and Marlborough, Massachusetts labs, adding: “Although we are working to bring more labs across the United States as quickly as possible. “
Quest Diagnostics said that “” a small subset of patients “can see wait times of up to two weeks for test results. (IStock)
Gorode said the company expects to increase testing capacity by 20,000 tests per day to reach an end-of-month goal of 150,000 tests per day, “and will then evaluate what is possible beyond that and communicate it publicly.”
According to WCVB 5 ABC, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker visited the Marlborough lab in March and spoke about an expected “huge increase” in the number of tests that would be performed daily. At that time, the store reported that the facility was capable of performing 2,000 to 3,000 tests per day. Between state and private labs, Baker reportedly wanted to see a minimum of 3,500 tests a day at the time.
Fox News contacted the governor’s office with a request for comment.
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker visited the Marlborough laboratory in March and spoke of an expected “huge increase” in the number of tests that would be performed daily. (Photo credit: Dennis Moynihan, Quest Diagnostics)
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“We will get to the point where we do the amount of daily testing that we think we should do,” Baker said in March.
In the media statement, the company said there are several issues preventing increased capacity, such as limits to test rigs, complex machines that perform technical analysis, and the reagents or chemicals used to perform the tests.
As a result, Quest Diagnostics said the average response time to report test results is now more than two days for “priority 1 patients,” compared to one day a week ago. These people include hospital patients, preoperative patients in acute care settings, and symptomatic healthcare workers.
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The company said it depends on the healthcare provider to account for the priority level of each patient sample referred to Quest for testing.
The average response time for all other patients is seven or more days. While some patients can see test results in two to three days, “a small subset of patients” can see wait times of up to two weeks for test results.
The response time for molecular diagnosis and antibody test factors in transport time, which fluctuates with demand and varies by region, the company said.
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