Labs and agencies are grappling with supply shortages, logistical challenges, and a lack of federal guidance
A graduate student in Florida waited 11 days. Positive. A 14-year-old in California waited 24 days. Negative. A writer in New York has waited for four days—and is still waiting.
Early in the pandemic, tests were sent from hospitals to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public labs, which serve as the first line of defense when there’s an outbreak. But public labs run small operations and cannot handle the type of mass testing that’s required in this pandemic. As the Federal government pushed for more testing and launched drive-through community-based test sites, commercial labs were in an optimal position to jump in.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is working with states in an attempt to allocate resources as needed. But because the national stockpiles have run dry, FEMA is buying supplies from the same vendors as the labs, creating extra competition for those resources. FEMA sends supplies it receives to the states, which then send them to the labs.
What happened to Sonora Quest demonstrates the fragility of the system. Back in April, when stay-at-home orders were still in place and testing was reserved for inpatients and health-care workers, demand was relatively low; the company only received about 1,000 tests a day that month. Dexter lobbied the state’s health department to expand testing to more patients, such as those in long-term care facilities, knowing his labs could support the load.
Sonora Quest isn’t unique. In addition to competing for tests and supplies, labs across the country are also competing for market share and money. In May, the New York Times reported on a number of smaller labs that were operating under capacity while large labs were reaching their limits. “Large companies are not going to just say, ‘We have extra business, we’ll send it over to you,’” says Sanders, the supply-chain expert.
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