How to start COVID-19 testing in your lab: a quick guide
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many clinical laboratories rapidly adopted SARS-CoV-2 tests to help support high testing demands in the United States. With recent surges in the infection rate, test availability and turnaround time remain inadequate, with no definite vaccine or curative drug solution in sight. Testing and quarantining remain the only tried-and-true methods to limit the spread of the virus and decrease its mortality rate.
If you are looking to implement COVID-19 testing in your lab or clinic then you need to know what pitfalls to look out for and how to overcome the challenges associated with this task. These challenges include choosing the appropriate test to adopt, regulatory demands, lack of clinical samples for validation testing, lack of testing reagents and instruments, reagent incompatibilities and becoming established as a test provider in a fast-paced, competitive market.
In this quick COVID-19 testing guide from Zymo Research, you will find all this and more. Discover the answers to these frequently asked questions:
-
- What are the requirements for my lab to offer COVID-19 testing?
- Should my lab offer testing as a Lab Developed Test or a test that is FDA authorized under an emergency use authorization?
- What type of test should my lab offer? Serology, antigen, or RT-PCR?
- Which factors should I consider for choosing the right SARS-CoV-2 test?
- Is it as simple as choosing the test I like most and then offer it in my lab?
- How do I reach out to the right audience for SARS-CoV-2 testing?
If you would like more resources on this topic, check out the rest of our COVID-19 diagnostics In Focus here!