Mayo develops test for COVID-19
Mayo Clinic announced Thursday that it has developed a test capable of detecting SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Mayo began making the test available to its clinicians on Thursday. In the coming days, the Clinic will begin offering the test to other providers. The Star Tribune reports Mayo’s lab currently has the ability to handle 200-300 tests per day, though that number is expected to grow.
"This test should help ease some of the burden that is currently being felt at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state public health laboratories," said Dr. William Morice II, president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories. "We are doing everything we can to help relieve the burden during this time to provide answers for patients here in Rochester and around the world."
Mayo is one of several organizations that have been working swiftly to develop a test for the virus. Relative to other countries, such as South Korea, the U.S. has been slow to administer adequate testing for COVID-19.
There are now more than 1,300 confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S. That figure is expected to increase in the coming days as more tests become available. The WHO has declared the outbreak a pandemic.
“The system is not really geared to what we need right now,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a House hearing Thursday. “That is a failing. Let’s admit it.”
Mayo test has 24-hour TURNAROUND
In announcing the new test, Mayo said it can now identify the virus using a variety of clinical samples, including nasopharyngeal swabs, sputum, throat swabs, bronchoalveolar lavages, and bronchial washings.
All samples will be delivered to the Mayo Clinic Laboratories facility in northwest Rochester for testing. Positive samples will then be sent to the Minnesota Department of Health or CDC for confirmation.
"An individual can now receive his or her result for SARS-CoV-2 within 24 hours," said Dr. Matthew Binnicker, a clinical microbiologist and director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Mayo Clinic.
Mayo began fast-tracking work on the test in mid-February, after watching the virus overwhelm the healthcare system in China, the Strib reports. Oftentimes, tests can take a year or more to develop.
"Trying to develop a test in a span of weeks is difficult," said Binnicker. "We've been working diligently, around-the-clock."
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