Two private labs have joined the Milwaukee Health Department and the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene - UW-Madison as approved testing facilities for the coronavirus.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services, in a conference call Monday, said the labs will no longer need DHS approval before testing patients.
So far, testing confirmed only one person had the virus in Dane County. Health officials recently released that person from isolation after they tested negative for the virus.
Now, doctors will be able to use their own judgement on whether to test a patient for coronavirus, in an effort to get results faster and stop the spread, as more states are seeing community spread of the virus.
"Overall, I would say our goal is to be more aggressive in finding cases and being able to respond when and if they are present in Wisconsin so we can prevent the outward spread," said Dr. Ryan Westergaard, chief medical officer with the Bureau of Communicable Diseases.
QuestDiagnostics and LabCorpwill now be doing testing in Wisconsin.
Health officials say they don't know how many tests the labs will be able to do, but the state lab in Madison has the capacity to test 100 specimens a day.
To read more go to WKOW https://wkow.com/2020/03/09/two-more-labs-approved-to-test-for-coronavirus-in-wisconsin/
Photo: WKOW