RALEIGH — LabCorp has announced beginning Friday, March 20, that it will be able to perform more than 20,000 COVID-19 tests in one day, which more than doubles the lab’s weekly testing abilities. LabCorp’s corporate headquarters are in Burlington, N.C.
This announcement puts testing schedules ahead of the original testing estimates and will significantly increase in capacity since the company released its COVID-19 test two weeks ago.
In a press release, the company said it is “intently focused on making COVID-19 laboratory testing available to patients who are symptomatic and should be tested.”
The increased testing capacity was accomplished by adding staff, equipment and more high-throughput testing now underway as a result of approval for what is known as an “emergency use authorization” or EUA.
The Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) authority helps the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to aid in strengthening the nation’s public health protections by facilitating the availability and use of medical countermeasures that might be needed during a public health emergency.
According to section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), the FDA Commissioner has the ability to permit the use of unapproved medical products to be used in an emergency to diagnose or treat life-threatening diseases or conditions when there are no other approved available alternatives.
LabCorp is now performing COVID-19 testing at its labs in Phoenix, Ariz., Burlington, N.C., and Raritan, N.J.
LabCorp does not collect specimens for the test, that’s the job of an appropriate healthcare facility where a patient is seen and a test is ordered. The company says that the test results will be available in 3-4 days from the pickup date of the specimen to release date of the test result.
