Arizona begins in-house coronavirus testing in bid to speed diagnoses

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A state laboratory in Arizona is now using in-house testing for the novel coronavirus in a bid to speed potential diagnoses in the state and avoid relying on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to process patient samples.

State Health Department Director Dr. Cara Christ during a Monday press conference said the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory can test some 450 samples a day with results following either the same or following day, the Arizona Republic reported. 

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It’s not clear how many test kits are available in the state at this time, but Christ said shortages were not expected. To date, there has only been one case of COVID-19 — the novel virus — in Arizona, confirmed in a person who had traveled to Wuhan, China, the epicenter for the ongoing outbreak that has infected more than 90,000 and killed more than 3,000 across the world.

Additional cases are expected in the state, but the current risk to the public is considered low, “unless you have a history of travel or contact with an infected person,” she said, according to the Arizona Republic. She also warned of community transmission, which has already occurred elsewhere in the U.S. 

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The news comes after the Trump administration reportedly ordered an investigation into a CDC lab in Atlanta that was in charge of assembling coronavirus test kits after a scientist with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised concerns that the lab itself may be “contaminated,” possibly leading to faulty test kits, according to reports.

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The news of the investigation subsequently sparked some states — namely New York, which confirmed its first case of the virus on Sunday —  to seek “emergency approval” of their own test kits, Reuters reported. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked the FDA for approval to begin using the state-developed test kits to speed testing capabilities. (The state’s first case was subsequently confirmed via a state-developed test, the governor said during a Monday press conference.)

There are at least 100 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S., which includes presumptive positive cases. At least six people have died from the virus in the U.S, all from Washington State.