UNC Health has developed a new test for coronavirus that will be used to evaluate local individuals who meet the criteria set by the Centers for Disease Control.

The UNC Medical Center McLendon Clinical Laboratories in Chapel Hill developed this diagnostic test for COVID-19 based on a World Health Organization assay.

As of Monday, March 16 the UNC test is now in use at the medical center in Chapel Hill, NC.
 
The test will initially only be available for inpatients at UNC Medical Center, UNC REX Hospital and UNC Health affiliate hospitals across North Carolina – as well as a select number of UNC Health clinic locations. 

The Director of the Clinical Microbiology and Molecular Microbiology Labs at the UNC Medical Center, Melissa Miller, said it has been her mission to quickly and effectively serve the community.

“Quickly creating and validating tests for emerging pathogens has always been part of my passion and commitment, ever since I was a fellow here during SARS,” Miller said. “We have developed a high-quality test, we have the infrastructure to roll it out, and are ready to help the people of our state.”

UNC Health CEO and Medical School Dean, Dr. Wesley Burks, said he is hopeful that this test will help his team treat patients faster.

“The ability to conduct in-house testing is a crucial step in our response to COVID-19,” Burks said. “Our ability to test patients and receive results in a matter of hours will help us to better understand the spread of the virus in our state and, most importantly, allow us to quickly move to treat positive patients and provide relief to patients who test negative.”

Burks concluded that he would like to thank everyone at UNC Health who has worked to successfully develop this test ahead of it’s deployment.

For more information on UNC Health’s COVID-19 testing criteria, as well as patient fact sheets, visit UNC Health’s website.

UNC Health recommends if you have a cough or shortness of breath, or you are concerned that you may have been exposed to COVID-19, call the UNC Health Helpline at 1-888-850-2684 before visiting a doctor’s office, an urgent care location, hospital, or emergency room.

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