New York City opens its own coronavirus testing lab to increase efficiency

New York City has opened its own coronavirus testing lab, hoping to process 40,000 to 60,000 samples per day within 24 to 48 hours, a significant increase as the city continues to reopen and prepare for a possible second wave of outbreaks. Testing capabilities and reducing wait times for epidemic waves. 

KEY FACTS City officials told The New York Times that pandemic response labs will prioritize New York City residents, meaning New Yorkers won't need to rely on lab companies facing demand across the country.

A small robotics company called Opentrons is operating the lab, which will initially process thousands of tests per day collected primarily from testing sites run by the city's public health system.

The lab has returned results for the first batch of 712 samples sent and is currently processing about 3,000 samples a day, a spokesperson for the lab said.

Opentrons CEO Jonathan Brennan-Badal said three robotic arms will move trays containing about 380 samples between different testing stations and may start pooling samples to increase efficiency, This means multiple samples are combined together and tested as one.

James Patchett, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, hopes the lab will be able to test 40,000 to 60,000 samples per day.

The city will pay Opentrons $28 per test, which Brennan-Badahl said is less than a third of what some other labs charge.

New York City has one of the most robust coronavirus testing programs in the country, testing more than 200,000 people a week, or more than 2% of its residents. The goal of the new laboratory is to significantly reduce the time required to process tests. Initially, New York City relied on large national laboratories, but as the number of cases continued to rise, some labs became overwhelmed. New Yorkers wait as long as two to three weeks for test results. Dr. Jai Varma, the City Hall adviser who is leading the city's coronavirus response, told The New York Times that officials hope to increase testing capacity by the fall. The lab will likely process student and teacher testing in the coming months, which will be important as schools reopen. The New York City Department of Health previously operated a laboratory, and the city used testing equipment at city-run sexual health clinics and public hospitals. However, Jeff Thamkittikasem, director of the mayor's office of operations, said the city can only process 10,000 tests per day.

Several states, including Pennsylvania, Alabama and Colorado, have public labs. However, public health laboratories have limited capacity compared to private laboratories. At its peak in mid-March, U.S. public health labs conducted more than 11,000 tests in a single day, NBC News reported. Many state labs contacted by NBC News said they are not stretched to the limit because only dozens to hundreds of samples per day meet their priority criteria.