More patients can now get tested for coronavirus, NC health officials say
North Carolina health officials have loosened, but not eliminated, requirements for patients to get tested for coronavirus as testing capabilities at non-state-run labs has increased.
The state had at least 16 cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday evening, including new cases in Mecklenburg, Wake, Forsyth, Johnston and Cabarrus counties
The biggest problem, the state’s top health official said, is a lack of supplies needed to conduct the tests. North Carolina’s state lab has enough supplies to test 700 people. The state has another 900 tests on back order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and commercial vendors.
There have been 67 completed tests with 21 specimens pending.
The problem is not supplies needed to get a sample from patients, Cohen said. That can often be a swab of the mouth or nose. The issue is at the state lab, which must conduct the test of the sample, including a process called extraction.
“Our issue and our limitation has been for supplies at our state lab,” said Mandy Cohen, the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, in a Thursday afternoon news conference. “Our extraction supplies have been in extremely limited supplies.”
It’s not just a North Carolina problem. The agent used to extract genetic material from the virus at the labs has created a nationwide problem, Politico and The New York Times reported.
“The main issue appears to be an agent used for extracting the RNA in order to identify the genetic sequence that marks this as the coronavirus,” said state Sen. Jeff Jackson, a Mecklenburg County Democrat.
In addition to the state lab, tests are being conducted at LabCorp, Atrium, Duke and UNC, Cohen said. LabCorp, which is based in Burlington, is currently able to perform several thousand tests per day at facilities across the nation, according to its website.
“We know we are seeing much more testing beyond the state lab,” she said.
New requirements
That allowed health officials to offer revised guidance to doctors in the state. Gov. Roy Cooper said the state still has not received “the material we were promised from the CDC, so we have begun working other avenues.”
Patients who have a fever or lower respiratory symptoms (cough, shortness of breath) and close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case within the past 14 days can get tested. So, too, can patients with a fever and lower respiratory symptoms and a negative rapid flu test, according to the NC DHHS website.
“We want to make sure that everybody who should get tested, gets tested,” Cooper said at the Thursday afternoon press conference. “If someone had a situation where they didn’t fit the criteria earlier in the week, they could very well fit the criteria now.”
The move comes as state and federal lawmakers have expressed concern about the ability to test for coronavirus and get a sense of how widespread the virus is in the nation.
In testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday morning, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the federal government’s system is not set up to provide tests for anyone who wants them.
“The system is not really geared to what we need right now, what you are asking for,” he said in response to a question from Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida. “That is a failing. It is a failing. Let’s admit it.”
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said the system is set up to have doctors request tests for patients who meet certain criteria.
“The idea of anybody getting it, easily, the way people in other countries are doing it, we’re not set up for that,” he said. “Do I think we should be? Yes, but we’re not,” he said.
Do you have questions about the coronavirus? The News & Observer will get the answers for you. Go to bit.ly/virusnc and let us know what you need to know.
Bipartisan concern
Sen. Thom Tillis and Reps. Richard Hudson and David Price sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday, asking about the availability of tests. Pence is leading the federal government’s response to the outbreak.
The letter also said the lawmakers “look forward to the approval of additional Emergency Use Authorizations (EUAs), as appropriate, to allow other testing methods that are not limited by current or future supply issues.”
“North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services has made us aware that supplies for test kits are not yet adequate for the expected demand,” the letter said.
Tillis and Hudson are Republicans. Price is a Democrat.
“The key is ramping up the production of the test kits and then streamlining the process to get for getting them out to health departments and authorized agencies,” Tillis told McClatchy on Capitol Hill on Thursday. “We clearly have to get more test kits out there.”
Rep. Mark Walker, a Greensboro Republican, told CNN at the Capitol after a Thursday briefing with administration officials that there is “a growing frustration among members as a whole to get more definitive answers” about testing capabilities.
Jackson said for state lawmakers, “the overwhelming focus right now is on increasing testing capacity. The state is pushing as hard as it can on the CDC,” as well as opening up testing at universities like UNC.
“We are aggressively pursuing testing capacity,” Jackson said.
He said there’s no issue with being able to gather respiratory specimens, just the tests, which have a 24-hour turnaround time at the state lab and a little longer at private labs.
Members of the North Carolina General Assembly have been receiving regular updates from DHHS via a conference call.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhat you should know about the coronavirus
The coronavirus is spreading in the United States. Officials are urging people to take precautions to avoid getting sick, and to avoid spreading the disease if they do contract it.
Click the drop-down icon on this card for more on the virus and what you should do to keep yourself and those around you healthy.
What is coronavirus?
Coronavirus is an infection of the respiratory system similar to the flu. Coronaviruses are a class of viruses that regularly cause illnesses among adults and children, but this outbreak has spawned a new disease called COVID-19, a particularly harsh respiratory condition that can lead to death.
Health officials believe COVID-19 spread from animals to humans somewhere in China. It spreads among humans by physical person-to-person contact, including via coughs. That’s why health officials urge sick individuals to avoid contact with other people.
For more information, visit the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms are similar to the flu and include fever, coughing and shortness of breath.
How can I stop the spread of the coronavirus?
Wash your hands regularly with soap and water, and cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze.
If you develop symptoms similar to the coronavirus, you should seek medical attention. Stay home from work or school and avoid contact with others. It can take up to 14 days after coming into contact with the virus to develop symptoms.
COVID-19 is a new condition and there’s much about the disease we still don’t understand. For now, taking precautions is the best way to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 6:36 PM.
.jpg)
