State health officials say labs throughout California will soon begin testing for the 2019 novel corona virus the World Health Organization recently named COVID-19. So far, seven people in California have been diagnosed with the flu-like disease.
The California Department of Public Health announced that 16 labs are receiving the testing kits developed by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Department anticipates testing will begin as early as Wednesday.
Until now, hospitals throughout the U.S., in collaboration with state and local health departments, shipped samples to the CDC’s laboratory in Atlanta for testing. Results could take up to a week to confirm.
The CDPH says it expects results from local testing within two days.
“Testing here will allow us to get results faster for patient care and protecting public health,” Dr. Sonia Angell, California Department of Public Health Director, said in a video posted online Friday.
Inside @CAPublicHealth's Medical and Health Coordination Center, Dr. Sonia Angell, @CDPHDirector and State Health Officer, provides an update on how 16 labs in California will soon be able to test for novel #coronavirus. #nCoV2019 #novelcoronavirus pic.twitter.com/Gu9MH6KKiA
— CA Public Health (@CAPublicHealth) February 8, 2020
CDPH’s Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory in Richmond, California is one of the labs getting ready to begin testing. A spokesperson confirmed that the Richmond lab will have the capacity to run about 40 to 50 COVID-19 diagnostic tests a day.
The CDC-developed test is a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, or RRT-PCR, test that’s similar to others performed in the state’s labs.
In a press release, CDPH said the agency’s local partners expect to start testing within a couple of weeks.
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