Velocity Urgent Care can now give people their coronavirus test results in a little as 15 minutes.
Each Velocity location including the one in New Town, 4374 New Town Ave. Suite 100, has the Quidel Sofia 2, a rapid lab analyzer which can process test results faster than the average coronavirus test.
The medical provider started doing rapid testing on Aug. 12 and can run 30-50 tests daily at each location. Register for a test online here.
The test may get quicker results than the regular coronavirus test but that doesn’t mean the patient can opt out of getting a cotton swab shoved up their nose.
The provider uses a nasal swab for the rapid testing, too.
“Sofia 2 is the first antigen test approved by the FDA, a new category of tests for use in the ongoing pandemic,” Velocity CEO Alan Ayers wrote in an email. ”These diagnostic tests quickly detect fragments of proteins found on or within the virus by testing samples collected from the nasal cavity using swabs, according to the FDA.”
The tests are available for people who the following criteria:
- Active COVID-19 symptoms
- Prolonged exposure to someone who tested positive for the virus
- Clearance before surgery or other medical needs
- Tested per employment
If people do not qualify for rapid testing, Velocity will use an alternative coronavirus test with results expected 4-6 days. Register for a test online here.
“Due to limited supplies because of nationwide shortages and government diversion to high-impact areas, like South Florida and the military, it is necessary at this time for Velocity to limit rapid testing to the highest priority patients,” Ayers wrote. “We hope to soon be able to offer the rapid testing to all patients as soon as replenishment supplies are more predictable.”
Velocity is not the only provider offering expedited testing times.
Riverside Health System has analyzers for rapid COVID-19 tests with results in under 15 minutes, Riverside spokesman Peter Glagola wrote in an email on Tuesday.
“We use these tests for our behavioral health hospital,” he wrote. “We would like to offer more wide spread testing on this platform, but due to the shortage of reagents we must limit the use of this platform currently.”
Williamsburg Drug Company previously had 15-minute testing but it is currently unavailable.
“We’re still in the dark,” said Adam Brown, a certified pharmacy technician at the company. “We ordered another thousand test, we don’t have an ETA on when they will get here.”
He added the pharmacy does offer regular COVID-19 testing with results available within 36 hours from the time the lab receives the sample.
Williamsburg Urgent Care does not offer rapid testing but is in the process of doing so.
Other health providers like Sentara do not offer rapid COVID-19 testing either but it has regular COVID-19 testing with results available within 24-48 hours.
“Sentara’s in-house testing lab processes COVID-19 tests for inpatients at Sentara hospitals and life care facilities, patients with a testing order from a Sentara primary care physician, and Sentara patients who are scheduled for certain surgeries or procedures at one of our facilities, negative test is required,” Sentara spokeswoman Kelly Kennedy wrote in an email. “The lab averages about 1,000 tests per day and is running at capacity based on the availability of testing supplies.”
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