University of Iowa Hospitals begins testing patients for COVID-19 in its own laboratory
Mark EmmertIOWA CITY, Ia. — The University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics is the first hospital in Iowa to be able to conduct COVID-19 tests in its own laboratory, a move that lessens the burden on Iowa’s primary testing site at the State Hygienic Lab.
UIHC has been testing its own patients since Friday, said Dr. Bradley Ford, medical director of clinical microbiology at the hospital and leader of the team of 25 people who developed the test there.
The hospital started work on its testing capacity in early March after the FDA issued an emergency use authorization that allowed smaller local labs to do so. The result is the same test that is being used at the State Hygienic Lab and by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For now, Iowa’s largest hospital will limit tests to patients who have either completed a video visit with its medical staff and have been recommended for testing or those who are patients at the hospital.
UIHC doesn’t have enough supplies, such as swabs used to collect samples, to conduct tests on the general public.
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Test results are expected to be provided within 12 hours, but some results could be ready in as few as four hours. When tests needed to be shipped to the state lab, the wait time was typically 24 hours or more.
“We have enough capacity to cover our own patients who meet criteria, and that leaves SHL’s capacity open to serve other people who also need testing. Nobody has a stockpile. Nobody really has extra,” said Ford, who has worked at UIHC since 2012.
COVID-19 test results in Iowa have been handled almost exclusively by the State Hygienic Lab, which has the capacity to conduct up to 1,542 of them as of Tuesday, Gov. Kim Reynolds said.
There have been 124 positive test results in Iowa as of Tuesday, with 37 of them in Johnson County, where the University of Iowa hospital is based.
Iowa reported its first coronavirus-related death, an older person in Dubuque County, Tuesday evening and there were 18 people hospitalized. Meanwhile, there 2,315 negative COVID-19 tests from the state lab and other labs. Nine people had been hospitalized and released and 63 people had never been hospitalized.
More:Track the coronavirus spread in Iowa and across the U.S. in maps and graphics
Ford didn’t have an exact number of how many COVID-19 tests have been conducted in his lab since Friday.
“We have been testing an increased number of patients,” he said. “So, if you do see a concentration of patients in Johnson County, it may be just a testing effect."
Patients of UI Health Care can schedule an online video visit through MyChart or call 319-384-9010 if they have symptoms such as a fever or new or worsening cough. The hospital lists more information on uihc.org.
Mark Emmert is a reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at memmert@registermedia.com or 319-339-7367. Follow him on Twitter at @MarkEmmert.
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