Coronavirus testing remains a challenge, but UNC could help fill gap

But State Health Director Dr. Elizabeth Tilson said Monday that officials are working to resolve that problem.

Late last week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave emergency authorization to allow a couple of private companies to supply tests. Government officials said that could pump nearly 2 million test kits each week into the market.

Roche, which produces tests in New Jersey, says its swab test gets results back in about four hours, and the company can do up to 960 per eight-hour shift. Thermo Fisher says it plans to produce 5 million tests in April, which will be distributed to 200 labs across the country.

Still, people who can’t get tested now are frustrated.

"They are absolutely overwhelmed. I feel like they're doing the best with what has been given them," one local woman told WRAL Investigates on Monday.

She has a special-needs son with a history of respiratory issues. He tested negative for flu despite a fever and breathing problems, yet still couldn't get tested for coronavirus.

"If it's this difficult for us to get a test, that means it's this difficult for everyone to get a test," she said. "If a hundred other people need this test and are going through what we're going through, who knows how many people are actually infected?"

Testing keeps increasing – the state health lab has completed tests for 329 people to date, and it has supplies for another 1,300, Tilson said – and private lab capacity is growing by the day. But fear over the new virus is driving demand for testing far beyond supply.

Melissa Miller, director of the Clinical Molecular Microbiology Laboratory at the UNC School of Medicine, developed the test in her lab and said she hopes swabs from 500 people could be tested each day.

On the first day of testing, about 40 samples were done.

"There’s a lack of tests. We don’t have enough tests to test everybody that needs to be tested," Miller said. "Now, we are able to do our own test instead of waiting for a test from a commercial lab or from a commercial company that might be making a test.

"We should’ve had higher testing capacity weeks ago. There’s no question. We are way behind," she added. "This really is a public health crisis. We are ready to meet that crisis now. We’re a little late, but it’s never too late."

UNC Health doesn't have the capacity to test everyone who wants to be tested, so high-risk patients in UNC-affiliated hospitals are being given priority.

"The more institutions that come online, the more tests there will be," Miller said.

Tilson said setting up enough sites to take samples also remains a challenge.

"We're working through some of our public-private partnerships to be able to stand up alternative collection sites that providers can refer to to expand their capacity to get that sample collection for patients," Tilson said. "We know there's been a demand for testing, so we're really helping to provide that guidance for providers to help people navigate that."