North Texas Health Officials Looking To Increase Coronavirus Testing This Week
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Health officials in North Texas are working to increase testing capabilities for COVID-19 as the number of infected patients continues to grow.
It was last week that officials said they were only able to test about 40 people per day for coronavirus. However, this week, those testing numbers are expected to increase to around 80 per day.
But, the big increase in tests is expected to come from commercial labs that are working with the American Clinical Laboratory Association.
Once additional Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved testing is available at large diagnostic platforms this week, the industry expects its testing capacity to be at more than 20,000 tests per day in the U.S.
Then, if there are no delays or shortages of necessary materials and supplies, that number of tests is expected to increase to around 280,000 tests per week by April 1.
But as far as today goes, health officials are stressing that only certain people should be getting tested.
"The testing is certainly not for people who have no symptoms that think 'oh.. I want to get tested for COVID-19' because again there's still limited samples so it needs to be people who have symptoms. Then there's categories of people who have either travel histories to places where there's known community spread or exposure to known cases that have been positive," Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Philip Huang said.
Those symptoms include fever, dry cough and shortness of breath.
Officials are also looking to keep the number of patients down to avoid overwhelming hospitals throughout North Texas. There is currently not a designated hospital in the area for coronavirus patients since the local cases are spread throughout North Texas.
Stephen Love, president and CEO of the DFW Hospital Council, said he soon expects hospitals to implement visitation restrictions and guidelines. Visitors may be asked about their travel history, and there could also be age restrictions.
There are also no shortage of medical supplies at hospitals in North Texas.