Maine CDC to Receive Testing Platforms with Quick Results

The Maine CDC announced today that it is set to receive COVID-19 testing platforms from a Scarborough Lab, that will give very quick results.

We told you, earlier this week, that southern Maine's Abbott Laboratory was manufacturing a platform that would allow healthcare providers to get almost instant results from COVID-19 tests. This is huge, for people at risk of complications, but also for anyone who has to wait several days, or even more, to learn whether or not they have the illness. It could save them from unnecessary quarantine, prevent them from infecting others, and just save them from the mental anguish of not knowing.

Dr. Nirav Shah, of the Maine CDC, says another valuable advantage of having this sort of testing is that it could save personal protective equipment, or PPE's, being used by healthcare workers. From the time a patient enters a hospital or clinic with possible symptoms, they are treated as if they have COVID-19. Healthcare workers don gloves, protective masks and suits, to avoid catching the disease. The quicker they get the results, the less of those PPE's will be necessary. And, right now, they're in short supply.

Similar platforms are already being used to detect things like influenza. But a modification has made it possible to now detect COVID-19. The Maine CDC says it will receive a shipment soon of 15 platforms, plus about 100 test kits. Each kit is capable of 100 tests, for a total of 2,400.