New COVID-19 Testing Contract In California to Address Delays, Shortages
California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Wednesday a new $1.4 billion COVID-19 testing contract to address the test result delays and supply shortages in California.
On average, California is testing about 100,000 people daily. Results from these COVID-19 testing take about a week.
The California governor said that the new contract promises to ramp up the number of tests to 250,000 per day.
Newsom added that the results will only take one to two days, under the requirement written into the new contract with Massachusetts-based PerkinElmer.
"Once you get past a couple days, testing results lose meaning in significance to mitigate spread of disease in terms of contact tracing, quarantining and isolating," Newsom was quoted in a report.
Newsom said that what is significant with this partnership is that the state of California is demanding results back in 24 hour, the latest 48 hours.
Newsom said they have provision under that contract to guarantee that turnaround time.
California COVID-19 Testing
Around 94 percent of California counties reported that testing results took more than two days, as of mid-August.
The Desert Sun survey showed that 58 percent of reported results take as long as a week.
Several counties, including Sierra and Santa Barbara counties, have reported delays in COVID-19 testing results for as long as two weeks.
The state has paid about $100 per test, and sometimes up to $200, for more than 10 million tests so far, Newsom said.
The new COVID-19 testing contract has the cost that will hit between $30 and $48, with the price becoming lower as California do more COVID-19 testing per day.
To start off this new COVID-19 testing contract, California will find a new laboratory for PerkinElmer to work from.
The construction will take eight to 10 weeks to complete. Additional test will not be rolled out until later this fall.
California officials hope to start processing thousand of new COVID-19 testing by November, which is time for flu season.
Newsom predicts an increase in COVID-19 testing demand this time, with full capacity reached by March.
The initial contract will cost California $100 million, with the option to grow to $1.4 billion.
PerkinElmer has partnered with California for the past 30 years to provide newborn genetic tests.
These tests are required for every newborn in California.
There are also additional provisions under this new COVID-19 testing contract. These include technology changes as rapid-result COVID-19 tests become more widely available.
The new COVID-19 testing contract also require the company to provide testing kits and necessary supplies, as well as allowed toward pooled testing if needed.
The COVID-19 testing contract also requires a potential upgrade to include flu tests.
The California governor said that supply chains across the country have slowed as demand for COVID-19 testing increase.
Newsom added that flu season will only worsen the problem.
"So we are building our own laboratory capabilities right here on California soil with a stable supply chain to fight the disease, lower the prices of testing for everyone and protect Californians most at risk from COVID-19," Newsom was quoted in a report.
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