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Friday, April 17, 2020

Michigan Tech opens COVID-19 testing lab

By Allison Mills, Michigan Tech Associate Director of Research News
Posted April 16, 2020, on Michigan Tech News
Reprinted in part with permission


Michigan Tech has partnered with regional hospitals to coordinate receiving and testing patient samples on campus. (Photo courtesy Michigan Tech University)

Starting this week, Michigan Technological University will begin testing patient samples for COVID-19, working alongside regional health care providers.

With delays in testing across the nation, rural and remote regions like Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have been hard pressed to get enough tests for patients. But there is hope.

Michigan Tech has partnered with local hospitals to begin receiving and testing patient samples on campus to save doctors and health care providers at least 24 hours, and up to a week, of waiting for COVID-19 test results. The lab has the capacity to run 40 samples per hour on two machines, and the team has plans to expand with more equipment and staffing.

"The safety of our community and our lab technicians is most important," said Dave Reed, vice president for research at Michigan Tech. "We live in small, tight-knit communities in the UP and we want to take care of each other and Michigan Tech can help by ensuring people get timely and accurate COVID-19 test results."

Click here for a video about Michigan Tech's testing lab.

Click here to read the rest of this article on Michigan Tech News.