ROCKY HILL, Conn. (AP) — The Connecticut Department of Public Health has received federal approval to run diagnostic testing for the coronavirus.
Gov. Ned Lamont announced Friday that the department’s lab in Rocky Hill has been approved as a COVID-19 testing site by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.
That means tissue samples from any Connecticut patients suspected of having the disease or being exposed to it won’t need to be shipped out of state for testing, the Democrat said.
“With testing now available in Connecticut, we can turn around test results within 24 hours of getting samples,” Public Health Commissioner Renée D. Coleman Mitchell said. “This will improve the investigation of any future cases and tracking down anyone potentially exposed to the disease. Information is critical to managing an outbreak of any infectious disease, and testing at our state lab offers the greatest ability for all of us to make the best decisions to protect the health of the greatest number of people.”
There have been no cases of COVID-19 found in Connecticut and no patients in the state are currently suspected of having been exposed to the disease.
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