PROVIDENCE – Two laboratories that started processing COVID-19 tests for the state this week have reduced lengthy waiting times for results, Gov. Gina M. Raimondo said Wednesday.
The labs, Accu Reference Medical Lab LLC and Dominion Diagnostics LLC – both of which has locations in Rhode Island – were contracted earlier this month to expand Rhode Island’s testing capacity before schools reopen in mid-September.
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At a news briefing Wednesday afternoon, Raimondo said more than 2,000 tests have been processed per day this week, with turnaround times of 48 hours or less.
“We are already seeing a difference,” said Raimondo, noting that a month ago the average COVID-19 test turnaround time was five days. It is now under 2½ days. “You could have been waiting more than a week to get your test results and that’s not OK,” she said.
Raimondo also said the state recently purchased five new rapid-test machines, which will be deployed to public schools. The machines are in addition to the 10 the state already owned. While the rapid test are generally less reliable than the 48-hour COVID-19 tests, the governor said, there’s still a lot of value in rapid tests to quickly identify people infected with COVID-19 and put them into quarantine.
The additional machines will help conduct 1,000 rapid tests per day in public schools, according to the governor.
“There are going to be cases. There are going to be children [who] get the COVID virus,” said Raimondo, adding that it’s her goal to get as many students back into school this fall as possible. “There will be professionals that test positive.”
Wednesday’s briefing came as confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Rhode Island increased by 79, with three new deaths, according to the R.I. Department of Health.
“These 79 new cases [are] a little bit better – there were a few days where we had more than 100 cases,” said Raimondo. “Our compliance has increased a bit and you see it in the numbers.”
Cases in the state total 20,795 to date, an increase of 103 from figures reported on Tuesday, accounting for both the day-to-day increase, as well as data revisions from previous days. The three-day average of new cases in the state is 75.
The state has reported a total of 1,027 deaths related to the new coronavirus.
Current hospitalizations due to the virus total 82, an increase from 78 from the day before. The three-day average of hospitalizations is 82. Of those hospitalized, eight are in intensive care units and five are on ventilators.
There were 3,310 COVID-19 tests conducted Tuesday in Rhode Island with an overall positive rate of 2.4%. When excluding both repeat negative and repeat positive results, the positive rate for the day was 4.7%.
To date, there have been 440,127 tests conducted in the state.
Raimondo also gave an update on duplication testing in congregate living settings. She said that in the month of July, the state ran 45,000 COVID-19 tests in congregate care settings, which includes nursing homes, group homes and prisons.
“Because of our system, we’ve brought down the rate of infection in our nursing homes,” said Raimondo. In the first weeks of August, less than 5% of coronavirus cases were in nursing homes, compared with 20% in early May. as opposed
(This story has been updated to include information from the governor’s briefing.)
Alexa Gagosz is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Gagosz@PBN.com.
