Coronavirus testing kits are set to arrive in Ohio in a few days and should be ready to test Ohioans for coronavirus, also called COVID-19, by next week.
The current process is for hospitals to send potential coronavirus samples to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH), which then sends the samples to one of two out-of-state labs run by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
That process takes five to seven days.
With in-state testing, ODH Spokeswoman Melanie Amato said the process will be shortened to 24-48 hours — a critical time frame for preventing the spread of the virus and treating the patient.
“We have never been a priority state due to the fact that we don’t have an airport that these travelers were coming in,” Amato said. “We weren’t a high priority to get this testing kits to begin with.”
The CDC is only sending testing kits to labs run by state health departments right now, not those run by local hospitals or other entities, Amato said.
