Test Nebraska Lab Will Nearly Double Capacity; Program Still Not Reaching Current Capacity

The lab that processes COVID-19 samples for the state’s testing program will expand and be able to handle nearly twice as many tests each day.

Governor Pete Ricketts says the state is adding new equipment to the CHI St. Elizabeth lab in Lincoln that will allow it to process 7,000 tests a day instead of the current 3,600 test capacity as part of the TestNebraska program.

Ricketts says the expansion will help the state keep up with demand, including testing going on at nursing homes across Nebraska.

"So you can anticipate as we get that capacity brought online we will be expanding the opportunities for people to get scheduled to be able to do that testing," Ricketts said Tuesday.

Last week, Test Nebraska averaged between 1,600 and 1,700 tests each day, according to chief medical officer Dr. Gary Anthone.The program accounted for 52% of all tests in the state last week.

That's an improvement compared to June, during which the program averaged about 1,200 daily tests. Test Nebraska has had the capacity to collect and process 3,000 samples per day since the end of May.

So far, about 94,000 tests have been given through Test Nebraska, and about 242,900 tests have been conducted altogether.