Testing Surge Workgroup
Overview and Mission
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services convened a Testing Surge Workgroup. Meeting since April 2020, the group of experts are charged to:
- Develop a coordinated action plan to:
- Increase testing throughput and capacity (including serology)
- Expand testing sites and diversity of testing options
- Address risks around testing supplies and PPE availability
- Increase transparency around current testing capabilities of laboratory, clinical, and retail partners.
Workgroup Team Members
The workgroup is composed of internal NCDHHS staff and leaders from the public and private sector, including:
Co-Chairs
- Dr. Michael Datto, Duke University Health System Clinical Laboratories, Medical Director
- Dr. Charlene Green, Old North State Medical Society, President
- Dr. Scott Shone, NC State Laboratory of Public Health, Division of Public Health, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
Members
- Josh Arant, MAKO, CEO
- Dr. Cardra E. Burns, Senior Deputy Director, Division of Public Health, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
- Traci Butler, LabCorp, Senior Vice President, Atlantic Division
- Jay Campbell, North Carolina Board of Pharmacy, Executive Director
- Dr. Gerald Capraro, Atrium Health, Director of Clinical Microbiology Lab at Carolinas Pathology Group
- Azzie Conley, NCDHHS Division of Health Service Regulation, Chief, Acute and Home Care Licensure Certification Section
- Dr. John Fallon, NC Healthcare Association, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at ECU
- Dr. Garett Franklin, Cary Medical Group, Physician
- Natalie D. Jackson, Regional Vice-President Commercial, Southeast – North Region, Quest Diagnostics
- Dr. Aditi Mallick, COVID-19 Response, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
- Dr. Melissa Miller, UNC Health Care, Clinical Microbiology and Molecular Microbiology Laboratories, Lab Director
- Amanda Fuller Moore, Pharmacist, Division of Public Health, NC Department of Health and Human Services
- Dr. Zack Moore, State Epidemiologist and Epidemiology Section Chief, Division of Public Health, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
- Alan Myers, Quest Diagnostics, Vice President/General Manager, Southeast Region
- Lyz Ortiz, Technical Advisor, Resolve to Save Lives
- Stacie Saunders, Alamance County Health Department, Public Health Director
- Chris Shank, NC Community Health Center Association, Executive Director
- Marina Smelyanskaya, Senior Technical Advisor, Resolve to Save Lives
- Dr. Meg Sullivan, NC Association of Local Health Directors, Medical Director, Mecklenburg County
- Dr. Betsey Tilson, State Health Director, Chief Medical Officer, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services
- Douglas W. Urland, MPA, Director, North Carolina Institute for Public Health
Materials and Updates
Tab/Accordion Items
- Increased detection capabilities of supply chain constraints
- Development and thorough review of COVID-19 testing guidance
- Proactive discussion of new testing modalities
- Provide feedback on ways to increase specimen collection, testing capacity, and testing numbers
- Creation of new testing sites and additional testing partnerships
- Recommendations on various topics in the field such as antigen testing and pooled testing
- Transparency into test collection and lab barriers and the development of strategies to address such barriers