Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
When It Comes To Testing Shortages, Necessity Is Proving To Be The Mother Of Invention
The Wall Street Journal: Shortage Of Test Components Forces Labs To Beg, Borrow And Improvise
Facing looming shortages of supplies needed to conduct coronavirus tests, some laboratories are taking matters into their own hands. Labs at places such as New York University and Stanford University are starting to make their own chemical mixtures because they can’t buy enough. A high-school lab in Tennessee managed to set up testing operations, with two science teachers leading the charge to reduce turnaround time in their area. And Northwell Health, a hospital network in New York, said it is making its own 3-D printed swabs to take samples from patients’ throats or noses. (Abbott, 4/5)
NPR: Coronavirus Testing Woes Continue To Plague U.S.
One of the nation's most important medical testing companies has acknowledged that it has a backlog of at least 115,000 coronavirus tests, which helps explain why so many desperate doctors and patients haven't been able to get tested. Quest Diagnostics of Secaucus, N.J., says the backlog occurred because a company lab in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., where the company's coronavirus testing started, got overwhelmed when testing started to ramp up. (Stein, 4/3)
