Exclusive Look Inside Rapid Coronavirus Testing Lab In Worcester
WORCESTER (CBS) - It's a high-tech lab jammed into a space that was a hospital utility closet up until a few weeks ago. "We do the testing here for all of our patients that come through the emergency room," said Susan Mills, who heads up UMass Memorial's coronavirus testing lab. It's running 2,500 samples this week alone.
WBZ followed one sample from the hospital's drive-thru testing site to the rapid testing lab across the street. The patient sat in the driver's seat while a nurse quickly swabbed the inside of her nose, and put that sample into a vial.
The drive-thru is for people who've already been screened and sent by a health care provider. "They're patients that are experiencing respiratory challenges. They have fever, they have coughs," said Christine Vallee, who runs the testing site.
Once the sample arrived at the lab, a technician mixed it with a solvent, warmed it up, and ran it through a machine. Within minutes, the word "negative" popped up.
Rapid positives can help hospitals react faster in emergency settings, and can save lives. But rapid negatives are considered inconclusive, and are sent to a different lab in the same building for more sensitive testing that can take hours instead of minutes.
UMass Memorial assembled the lab because workers on the front lines were desperate for help. "They were literally begging for a faster turnaround time, and that was at that point when we made a decision in lab to take a stock-room that we had, quickly pull everything out of it, clean it out, and retro-fit it back in to a lab space," Mills said.
It doesn't end there. After patients are notified of results, health care workers follow-up on positive cases to track and document symptoms, and make sure they stay isolated. Experts say the follow-up will very likely be the key to stopping the spread.
