UMC to rapidly increase testing, seen as key to reopening economy

University Medical Center plans to dramatically increase its coronavirus testing capabilities in the weeks ahead, Clark County officials said Tuesday, with widespread testing seen as a key prerequisite to reopening the Strip and the rest of the state economy.

The county-owned hospital expects by June 1 to be able to process as many as 10,000 daily polymerase chain reaction tests, which identify if someone has the virus, UMC CEO Mason VanHouweling said during a news conference.

“We’ve essentially built a second lab at UMC that is dedicated to COVID lab testing,” he said.

The hospital currently can only process 500 tests per day. It will be a phased approach to get to 10,000, beginning with expanding to 1,500 by Saturday and then 4,000 daily on May 1.

By May 30, the UMC lab will launch COVID-19 antibody testing, which can determine not only if someone is infected, but whether they have previously had the virus. Health officials have not determined how many of those tests the lab will need to be capable of processing.

For context, VanHouweling said slightly less than 30,000 people have been tested in Nevada — a figure the UMC lab would be able to match in just three days.

But as the number of tests rapidly grows, it is inevitable that so too will the number of positive cases.

“We clearly will see the raw numbers go up. We’re probably going to have a little bit of yo-yoing back and forth,” VanHouweling said. “As we test more, or we open gradually, you’ll see a little bit more, and then let’s manage it and bring it down.”

Health Officer Dr. Fermin Leguen, with the Southern Nevada Health District, said the likelihood thta positive cases will rise reflects the complexity of the issue that officials are facing, pointing to federal guidelines that recommend starting to reopen when there have been 14 consecutive days of decreased case numbers.

But VanHouweling said he is more concerned about percentages, while Leguen said that increased testing will teach health officials what proportion of a community is not identified because they have no symptoms.

Tests are only given right now to individuals who have symptoms and a doctor’s order. Officials are still working out who will be tested, when and where, but they promised Tuesday to have more details soon.

County Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick framed expanded testing as a long-term plan, saying it matters to residents and tourists and that officials can track and research results while continuing to advocate for basic public health measures well after the plateau is reached.

“Nobody wants to open all the doors tomorrow and then have to turn around and close them in 30 days,” she said, describing a plan to reopen that instead will be done methodically.

‘Right direction’

Meanwhile, VanHouweling said Tuesday that UMC was in a good situation as it responds to the pandemic.

Now at 40 percent, ventilator use “continues to tick down day after day, week after week,” he said, while acute care and ICU beds were 65 percent and 76 percent occupied, respectively.

Hospital staffing levels are stable, he added, and there was a moderate need for personal protective equipment, with about seven to 14 days worth on hand.

“It’s all moving in the right direction,” he said.

Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.