Quest Diagnostics, the commercial lab that has performed about 800,000 COVID-19 tests, is furloughing more than 4,000 employees, which is about 9 percent of its workforce, CBS News reports.
Demand for COVID-19 testing has only partially offset a sharp drop in business for the company, according to CEO Steve Rusckowski.
The Secaucus, N.J.-based company has so far performed about 800,000 COVID-19 tests, making up about 40 percent of all testing done by commercial labs in the U.S. The company can process 45,000 diagnostic tests per day.
But, Quest saw its overall testing volumes drop by more than 40 percent in the last two weeks of March, CBS News reported.
In addition to the furloughs, members of the company's executive board are all taking 25 percent pay cuts for the next 12 weeks and other employees' salaries are being cut between 5 percent and 20 percent.
Quest has also suspended 401(k) matching for its employees and is dismissing temporary contract workers.
The company said its cost-cutting efforts won't impact COVID-19 testing.
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