Hospitals Can’t Get Enough COVID-19 Tests

Matt Rabus stood at the laboratory hood at Holyoke Medical Center and got ready to run a COVID-19 test. He prepared a sample from a nasal swab and then squirted it into a specialized test cartridge that contains a liquid reagent made up of enzymes and other things that will help determine if the RNA of the virus is present.

The test takes about 36 minutes. That is, as long as Holyoke Medical Center and other hospitals around the country can get their hands on those cartridges with the reagents. As more COVID-19 tests are being offered to anyone who wants one at places like CVS and other locations, hospitals are having a hard time getting crucial ingredients to conduct the same tests. And in some cases that’s preventing hospitals from providing important care.

“We’re on a very strict limitation of how many tests we can get per week,” said Jon Gronbach, the lab director at Holyoke Medical Center.

Gronbach said when they don’t have enough tests in-house, they have to use an outside lab, and it can take two days — not 36 minutes — to get those results. And that’s a problem, because before anyone can be admitted to the hospital, they need to get tested, including psychiatric patients waiting in the emergency room.

“No patient wants to hang out in the E.R. for a day or two to wait for one test result, let alone someone with an altered mental status,” he said.

And Gronbach said they have to test all patients before surgery.

“We’ve also had to cancel surgeries two weeks ago when we had zero test kits,” Gronbach said. “And these aren’t fun surgeries… When I say elective surgery, it gives you the false impression that, like, they don’t need it. But a total knee replacement — that’s needed.”

Several other small hospitals in the state report having the same problem getting tests. And while large hospitals like Massachusetts General Hospital and Tufts Medical Center say they’re facing the same challenge, Gronbach said this kind of thing really hits community hospitals like his.

Read the rest of this story at WGBH’s website.