COVID-19 News & Media
MARCH 23, 2020 - 9:30 A.M.
LabCorp Developing Options to Prioritize COVID-19 Testing for Inpatient Population in Support of Guidance from the White House Coronavirus Task Force
Company also preparing to support faster point-of-care testing for COVID-19 in hospitals once available
LabCorp today announced that it is exploring all options to prioritize COVID-19 testing for the hospital inpatient population who are being treated for what the physician suspects may be the COVID-19 virus. The company anticipates finalizing options through the week and will subsequently work with hospitals to begin implementation.
LabCorp continues to add capacity to perform testing for patients who should be tested in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health authority guidelines.
“LabCorp colleagues around the world are working tirelessly alongside our industry partners and governmental and health authorities to increase testing and capacity,” said Adam Schechter, president and CEO of LabCorp. “We are aligned with the Administration’s guidance and are actively encouraging all healthcare providers to follow the guidance to prioritize testing for patients who are hospitalized and being treated for suspected COVID-19. We are exploring all options to make this happen and will continue to do all we can to help fight this unprecedented health crisis.”
LabCorp is also preparing to help hospitals for whom it provides technical support services to perform on-site serological and molecular tests for COVID-19, including Cepheid’s recently announced Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2 molecular test, once available. LabCorp remains in close contact with manufacturers that are developing additional test options, and will work with healthcare providers to help them prepare to use these tests when they become available.
LabCorp continues to play a vital role in supporting the public response to COVID-19 and has moved quickly to increase its testing capacity by adding staff, equipment and more high-throughput testing. On Friday, March 20, LabCorp announced that it has the ability to perform more than 20,000 COVID-19 tests per day. This represents a significant increase in capacity since the company released its COVID-19 test on March 5, 2020. The company is working continuously to support the needs of healthcare workers, patients, government, clients and other organizations, and expects capacity to continue to increase.
LabCorp is now performing COVID-19 testing in three of its largest labs in the country.