LabCorp CEO Adam Schechter told CNBC July 21 that the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. is too fast for the company to keep up with demand, causing slower turnaround times for test results.
The Burlington, N.C.-based company is currently processing about 165,000 COVID-19 tests per day, up from about 20,000 per day in March.
"We're continuing to increase capacity every single week over week. The problem is that the number of tests being asked to be performed each week is growing faster than the capacity that we can build," Mr. Schechter told CNBC.
For hospitalized patients, LabCorp is returning results within an average of 1.5 days. For others, average turnaround time is about three to five days.
"We need all states to ensure we're doing everything we can to better control the virus. If we can do that, then we'll be able to have the tests that we need," Mr. Schechter told CNBC.
He added that he thinks the U.S. needs to be "really thoughtful" about testing demand as fall approaches, as students may be heading back to school and more people may stop working from home.
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