By Heart of Illinois ABC
BLOOMINGTON – The omicron variant, winter travel and the reopening of schools has caused a surge in demand for testing at Reditus Labs.
Despite that, CEO Dr. Aaron Rossi said the company is in a good position to continue to serve people.
Testing has increased five-fold, but employees are able to process COVID-19 results within 48 hours on average.
Rossi credited that to employees taking on extra work and new hires.
At the Interstate Center in Bloomington, which Reditus operates, 807 people were tested on December 27th.
That’s the highest single day total since November 2020 and since then daily totals have ranged from 392 to 735.
The lab in Pekin has processed 15,000 to 17,000 nasal specimens from a variety of locations since the surge began.
Michelle Anderson, laboratory compliance manager, said that number was around 3,000 tests a day before the surge.
Each specimen undergoes PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing. The PCR test is the “gold standard” for diagnosing COVID-19 because it’s the most accurate and reliable test.
From December 27th through January 2nd, 7,859 of 45,868 tests by Reditus were positive, for a positivity rate of 17.1%, compared with 6.8% the week before.
The 2020-2021 average turnaround time was 16 hours.
Reditus has processed more than 3 million COVID tests since April 2020.
Rossi predicted that, with omicron surging, the next few weeks will remain rough.
Heart of Illinois ABC can be reached at [email protected].
