Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare are partnering to operate a lab that can quickly process COVID-19 tests. The lab can process 1,000 tests per day and give results in 24 hours or less.
The lab will process samples from FSU students, faculty, and staff as well as TMH patients. Gary Ostrander is Vice President for Research at Florida State University. He says fast results are important since asymptomatic people who have COVID-19 sometimes take fewer precautions, leading them to spread the virus while waiting for test results:
"They don't feel bad, so there's no reason to stay home and stay isolated."
Ostrander says cutting down on that wait time via the lab could help curb the spread:
"If I test you tomorrow morning and I have a result by tomorrow night. The number of people you've interacted with is a whole lot less than if I don't get a result to you till next Monday."
Ostrander says the lab is meant to be temporary and not permanent.
