LINCOLN, Neb. (KMTV) -- — The TestNebraska initiative continues to get COVID tests to people across the state.
Media members got a tour of the lab where the analysis is getting done at CHI Health St. Elizabeth in Lincoln.
The test sites in Grand Island, Lincoln, and Omaha send their samples to St. Elizabeth driven by NSP troopers multiple times a day. The results are usually in within 48 hours.
CHI St. Elizabeth President Derek Vance says the validation rate is about 94-95%.
“That broad testing, identifying those patients earlier in the process before they’re sick enough to come in the hospital or need a ventilator or even if they don’t get to that point they can still spread it. So really identifying those people early on getting them quarantined and isolated. That’s why it’s key,” Vance explained.
They don’t have numbers on how many positives there are or if the people are asymptomatic. That goes to the state.
CHI says that they’ll be able to do up to 3,000 tests a day for the next 6 months. They’ll also monitor to see if a second wave of the virus hits and they could extend more tests for another 6 months beyond that.
