CompuNet Logs More Than 250,000 COVID-19 Tests During Pandemic

Moraine, OH (December 30, 2020) - CompuNet Clinical Laboratories this month surpassed 250,000 COVID-19 tests, a milestone capping a remarkable year in which testing played a vital role in the region’s response to the global pandemic.

In the pandemic’s early days, CompuNet was instrumental in providing the community with access to COVID-19 testing. In addition to processing COVID-19 tests for hospitalized patients, the full-service clinical laboratory partnered with Premier Health’s Fidelity Health Care and the University of Dayton on March 17 to open one of the nation’s first and longest-running COVID-19 drive-through specimen collection sites at UD Arena, drawing people from as far away as neighboring states such as West Virginia and Michigan. The drive-through site served more than 25,000 patients before relocating to OnMain, the former Montgomery County fairgrounds across Main Street from Miami Valley Hospital, where it has since served nearly 25,000 more people.

“It was absolutely critical to minimize the number of patients with COVID-19-like symptoms who were coming into physician offices, hospitals, and other health-care settings to seek testing,” said Teresa Williams, chief operating officer of CompuNet. “This drive-through site helped to minimize the spread of the virus and to conserve precious personal protective equipment supplies in health care settings, especially in the early days of the pandemic.”

To address the increase in COVID-19, CompuNet expanded the number of collection sites from one to eleven with the addition of six Patient Service Centers (Beavercreek-Lakeview, Middletown. Montgomery, Springfield, Troy, and West Chester) and four drive-through locations in partnership with Atrium Medical Center, Upper Valley Medical Center, and Premier Urgent Cares in Vandalia and Miamisburg. At all sites, a provider’s order is always required for testing.

With the support of Premier Health’s foundations, CompuNet also implemented high-volume testing capacity to lower turnaround times and expand testing capacity across various laboratory instruments to ensure that critical supply levels could keep up with the demand. Early on, CompuNet also began offering COVID-19 IgG antibody testing to the public. If a patient believes they may have had COVID-19 at some time in recent months, they may want to consider being tested for the antibodies.

In the fall, CompuNet also began offering the capability to be tested for both the seasonal flu and COVID-19 at the same time.

CompuNet, which typically processes about 6 million specimens a year, ramped up to conduct nearly 265,000 COVID-19 tests from March to December – the equivalent of more than one COVID-19 test per five residents in the five Dayton-area counties (Montgomery, Miami, Clark, Greene, and Warren) where CompuNet has patient service centers. CompuNet quickly scaled up to become an around-the-clock COVID-19 laboratory despite the additional challenge of implementing a new laboratory information system at the same time.

“Testing truly has been key to controlling the spread of COVID-19, along with proven practices such as wearing a mask and social distancing,” Williams said. “CompuNet really demonstrated itself to be an important partner in our region’s public health response to this pandemic. And as an organization, we learned how to enhance our flexibility as a laboratory so we can adjust quickly to meet the community’s rapidly changing needs during a global pandemic.”

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