UPMC develops COVID-19 testing
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has developed a test for the novel coronavirus, officials announced Saturday.
Dr. Alan Wells, medical director of the UPMC Clinical Laboratories, said the test will be used initially “for select symptomatic cases as we work to rapidly increase capacity at our central lab.”
He added, “We will be able to diagnose patients within 24 hours rather than in days or even weeks.”
Wells said staff members expect to test 20 patients a day right now, “quickly wrapping up to over 100 by the end of the week.”
Dr. Donald Yealy, chair of emergency medicine at UPMC, noted the intense need for testing capacity throughout the country.
“As we’re all aware, the testing capabilities for the COVID-19 illness within the United States were both delayed and limited,” he said.
He noted the difficulty of “crafting an effective plan when we don’t know who has the infection.”
Yealy said the new testing can lift some of the burden from other health providers and ease the concerns of patients by delivering results in “hours not days.”
He explained the procedure.
“Beginning on Tuesday, we will direct patients who receive physician care and who have symptoms of COVID-19 illness to a specimen collection site located in our building,” he said.
He stressed that the collection site is not open to the general public. Patients “must have a physician referral, must be approved by a UPMC infection prevention expert, and must have an appointment to have their specimen collected.”
The first case of the new coronavirus in the western part of Pennsylvania was identified Friday in Washington County.