“Company to be able to perform approximately 30,000 tests a week by the end of July, supplementing public health response,” according to a press release.
QUICK FACTS:
- American medical laboratories company Quest Diagnostics published a press release explaining the group will “be able to perform approximately 30,000 tests a week by the end of July, supplementing public health response,” according to the release.
- “Physicians can order the novel Quest Diagnostics lab test beginning today and the CDC orthopoxvirus test the first half of August,” the release states.
- Quest even revealed it “can expand capacity for monkeypox testing across other advanced laboratories in its national network” in expectation of increased demand.
- The volume of tests Quest is preparing for is surprising in that as of Tuesday there have only been a total of 929 confirmed monkeypox/orthopoxvirus cases in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
WHAT QUEST DIAGNOSTICS’ SENIOR VP SAID:
“We commend the HHS and CDC for spearheading public-private collaboration to mobilize response to the current monkeypox outbreak,” said Jay G. Wohlgemuth, M.D., Senior Vice President, R&D, Medical and Chief Medical Officer, Quest Diagnostics. “Quest’s expertise in infectious disease testing, national scale and relationships with half the country’s physicians and health systems is a vital complement to the efforts of the CDC and other public health labs to combat the monkeypox outbreak in the United States.”
BACKGROUND:
- American Faith reported yesterday how Mayo Clinic Laboratories is preparing to carry out 10,000 Monkeypox tests per week.
- In addition to Quest Diagnostics and Mayo Clinic, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has authorized Labcorp, Aegis Science, and Sonic Healthcare to test for Monkeypox.
