George Washington University has launched a new coronavirus testing protocol billed as “highly accurate” capable of producing results within two days, the university announced.
The new test utilizes a polymerase chain reaction to detect genetic material from the virus that causes the coronavirus and is highly precise, school officials said in a news release Thursday.
“Given spread of COVID-19 by people who have few to no symptoms, and the difficulty in assessing testing from private labs, GW concluded in April that we should develop our own testing capacity,” said Lynn R. Goldman, dean of the GW Milken Institute School of Public Health. “GW’s faculty and staff worked round the clock to create an automated high-capacity COVID-19 diagnostic test, obtain regulatory approvals, build the new laboratory and set up testing sites on campus. With this investment in on-campus testing, GW can now provide an extra layer of protection to keep students, faculty and staff healthy and safe.”
Officials said nearly 4,000 students, faculty and staff are part of the protocol’s testing and anyone on the Foggy Bottom main campus has to monitor symptoms and get weekly coronavirus tests. GW’s testing sites are located at Foggy Bottom and the Virginia Science & Technology Campus in Ashburn, Va.