RI Dept. of Health gives a look inside labs processing COVID-19 tests
The Rhode Island Department of Health allowed cameras inside its laboratories Monday, giving a closer look at the facility that's processing a quarter of the state's COVID-19 tests.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – The Rhode Island Department of Health allowed cameras inside its laboratories Monday, giving a closer look at the facility that’s processing a quarter of the state’s COVID-19 tests.
“Dr. Huard and I were here for the first case that we had found in Rhode Island, at the end of February, and our laboratory has not stopped since. We are operating every single day,” said RIDOH Associate Director of Health, Dr. Ewa King, in a conference call to reporters Monday.
The scientists at the state labs are clocking long hours, processing more than 400 tests a day. Testing in Rhode Island has expanded to more than 2,000 tests daily, with swabbing sites set up across the state.
To keep up with the rate, Dr. King said of the 80 people employed at the labs, around 30 of them are working solely on COVID-19 tests.
“We have involved many more scientists in this process than we normally would,” said Dr. King.
Scientists who specialize in areas like environmental testing and forensics have made the jump to help in the coronavirus testing efforts. Dr. King said while other kinds of testing are still going on at the labs, the workload in those areas since COVID-19 hit has decreased.
People who have retired are even coming back to work at the labs to lend a hand.
“Almost practically every person who works in my center has been drafted into the COVID-19 tests. We’ve brought in a former scientist who is now a retiree. She’s volunteering to help us out. We’ve also been able to bring back employees of the Department of Health who worked here at one point,” said Dr. Richard Huard, chief clinical laboratory scientist for the Department’s Center for Biological Sciences.
Dr. King and Dr. Huard said so far they’ve been lucky as no employees have gotten sick from the samples they handle every day.
Samples are dropped off at the state labs, unpacked, and then that patient’s information is logged in a database.
“The specimen then goes through a process called extraction. In this process, we isolated the genetic material from the virus in the specimen. The next process that follows is called PCR. This is a method where we amplify the viral target and detect them. From that point on, then the results will tell us whether the virus is present or not in the specimen,” explained Dr. Huard.
Results at the state lab take around 24 hours, longer if they need to be run through the system again.
Dr. Huard said right now their staffing is adequate, ahead of the surge that RIDOH says could come as soon as April 19 according to data.
“That’s the peak so we still have to go down the other side of the slope, so we’re still gonna be in this process for quite a while we expect.”
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