Two Hampton Roads health systems will now test patients for the coronavirus at their own laboratories, a new capability that could deliver quicker results for patients who think they’ve contracted the illness.
Sentara Healthcare, which operates a majority of hospitals in the region, had been sending nasal swabs and spit samples to either a commercial lab or the state’s facility in Richmond, both of which are overwhelmed with the influx of cases driven by the pandemic.
As of Monday, Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters also started providing the test for its patients and all of its affiliated pediatric practices.
Backlogs for testing had grown so large that wait times had escalated to 10 days or longer for people to get answers — a duration that rivals the recommended two weeks of self-quarantine for patients suspected of having the virus.
Sentara officials say that being able to conduct the tests in-house will allow them eventually to turn around results in one or two days.
But as Sentara rolls out its diagnostic services for COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, it also will suspend its drive-thru screening operations indefinitely. The number of people using the service had declined, perhaps a sign that Hampton Roads residents were getting the message they should stay home if they have some symptoms but are not seriously ill.
“We think the drive-thrus served their purpose in the time we did them,” said Dale Gauding, a Sentara spokesman, adding that the system will concentrate on providing testing for its own patients and staff.
The “vast majority” of testing will happen at Sentara’s lab, he said, rather than be outsourced.
For most people, the virus causes mild to moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. In serious cases, it can lead to pneumonia. As of Monday morning, the Virginia Department of Health reported 54 deaths and nearly 500 hospitalizations statewide.
The Sentara project came together as hospital administrators scrambled to find a way to avoid sending samples away. In about 10 days, they converted a former conference room at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital into a lab specifically tailored to perform COVID-19 diagnostics.
Eric Young, director of Sentara Laboratory Services, said the lab is outfitted with new equipment, such as a $170,000 Abbott m2000 RealTime testing instrument. Altogether, that device, plus a new freezer, centrifuge, safety hood and supplies, cost about $250,000.
It may take some time to reach its full capability, but Sentara believes it will ramp up to processing 1,000 tests a day for patients from any of its hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina.
Sentara couriers will shuttle lab samples from hospitals to the Norfolk facility up to seven times a day.
– Original Credit: Sentara Healthcare
– Original Source: Sentara Healthcare
Mary-Margaret Fisher, laboratory operations manager at CHKD, said the hospital did not need to buy one of the testing devices, as it’s owned the analyzer for two years.
Sentara representatives say an added benefit of doing its own testing will be reducing the amount of personal protective equipment — masks, gloves, gowns and other supplies — needed. Patients who meet the criteria for testing are presumed to have the disease until they receive a negative result. That has required hospital staff attending to these patients to wear full protective gear for the entire waiting period.
The new in-house test will not eliminate the wait times for samples that Sentara previously shipped off to other labs. The health system still estimates 10 days or more for those results to be delivered.
Elisha Sauers, 757-222-3864, elisha.sauers@pilotonline.com
