MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — Med-Lake Lab in Milledgeville recently purchased a Siemens Atellica machine system that is processing thousands of COVID-19 and antibody tests per week.
Med-Lake CEO Randy Peters says there are two types of coronavirus testing going on in his facility on Industrial Park Drive.
One is the nasal swab test to determine if someone currently has the virus.
The other is a blood test to determine if someone has COVID-19 antibodies in their system.
Peters says his lab techs can process up to about 300 of the blood tests per hour, or almost 2,500 in an 8-hour workday.
They can also process about 300 nasal swabs per day to test for the active virus.
Peters says most of the testing they’ve done since the start of the pandemic has been for local hospitals, doctor’s offices, and nursing homes.
“I think that by offering both alternatives of testing, and utilizing both as resources, we definitely can ramp up the amount of testing that can occur in Georgia. Then also give people the peace of mind that with antibody testing, we can tell them if they either have active virus or have been exposed to the virus,” says Peters.
Peters says you should have a doctor’s referral before making an appointment at Med-Lake Lab for a test.
