Ryan Nicol
Federal regulators have approved a 24-hour coronavirus test developed by Baptist Health South Florida — one of the largest hospital systems in the region.
That’s according to a Friday morning report from the Miami Herald.
Baptist Health plans to use its Miami Cancer Institute lab to process tests for the hospital’s patients and employees. According to the Herald, that system will handle between 40 and 80 tests per day and deliver results within 24 hours.
At that pace, the system won’t be able to provide widespread testing throughout its coverage region, which contains millions of people. But it can provide results quicker than current testing systems.
Currently, after hospitals collect samples, those samples are typically shipped to private labs for review. The process can take days — or longer — to inform patients as to whether they tested positive or negative for the virus.
Dr. Edwin W. Gould of Baptist Health told the Miami Herald the hospital system was looking to get quicker feedback for its patients who may be suffering from the virus.
“I think it’s a fair thing to say that, no matter what, the turnaround time is not acceptable unless we get a result back in 24 hours or less, and that means we’re going to have to do it in-house,” Gould said.
“That’s the take-home message. We don’t want to wait. Patients don’t want to wait.”
Baptist Health was one of 12 hospitals around the country to receive emergency approval for its test from the FDA.
Without an accurate count of who has the virus — and without vaccine or reliable way to treat those symptoms — health officials have urged Americans to cut down on social interactions until the virus’s spread is under control.
Friday morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis also announced two new walk-in testing sites in Broward County.
Baptist Health has various health centers stretching from Palm Beach County down through Broward and Miami-Dade and into the Keys in Monroe County.
The region has been the hardest-hit in the state in terms of confirmed coronavirus cases. As of a Friday morning update, Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties made up approximately 60% of cases statewide.
