Upstate University Hospital starts processing its own faster coronavirus tests

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Upstate University Hospital is now processing its own COVID-19 tests and expects to get results within 24 hours.

A rapid test that can provide results “in under an hour” is also now in use at Upstate for “special circumstances.”

Upstate had previously been sending between 80 and 100 coronavirus tests a day to the New York State Department of Health’s Wadsworth Center in Albany for processing.

The hospital on Wednesday began processing its own tests in the department of pathology’s microbiology and molecular diagnostics laboratories, per a Friday news release on the medical school’s website.

In-house processing allows Upstate to reduce the amount of time it takes to get a test result. Previously, the hospital sent specimens to the Wadsworth Center. The wait for test results from Wadsworth could be “more than 48 hours.”

Dr. Stephen Thomas, chief of infectious diseases at Upstate, said the ability for Upstate to process its own tests and to use a rapid test is a “game-changer.”

“A faster testing process allows us to more quickly identify COVID-positive patients,” Thomas said in the release. “We could jump-start the entire process of notifying people of possible exposure and putting people in quarantine, thus reducing possible transmission of the virus.

Thomas went on to say that “from a hospital perspective,” a faster test would have an impact on the distribution and use of hospital resources, such as protective gear.

“Rapid” COVID-19 test

Upstate University Hospital began using a rapid test platform Thursday — produced by Sunnyvale, California–based Cepheid — that has the potential of returning a coronavirus test “in less than an hour.” Except for “very special circumstances,” rapid testing is only available to inpatients at Upstate. It says the public should continue to seek testing at the Syracuse Community Health Center.