North Jersey Hospitals Launch Rapid Test For COVID Variants

NORTH JERSEY, NJ - In a breakthrough that will give better insight into how and where COVID-19 variants are spreading within New Jersey, Atlantic Health System is among the first hospitals in the region to be able to rapidly screen for key viral variants, according to officials.

“Since the start of the pandemic, rapid testing has remained one of the most important and elusive tools we have,” President and CEO of Atlantic Health System Brian Gragnolati said. “Similar to the challenges we faced with testing for the original strain last spring, the inability to quickly identify variants makes it difficult to track their spread. Using this new genetic test, Atlantic Health is leading the way in protecting our community.”

In-House Development

The organization will begin surveillance testing for COVID-19 variants for population health using internally developed PCR-based tests, as well as partnering with Seegene, Inc., using their recently developed research-use variant detection multiplex tests to rapidly screen for multiple variants – specifically the UK, Brazilian and South African variants.

Atlantic Health plans to continue developing tests to identify additional strains such as the California and New York variants. This test, performed via a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, which searches for the genetic material of viruses such as COVID-19, allows Atlantic Health to take a patient’s sample and not only determine whether they are positive for the virus, but whether they have one of these variants, all within a matter of hours.

Testing will be done at the Atlantic Consolidated Laboratory, which earlier this year began performing all COVID-19 testing in-house, dramatically reducing the time needed to provide results to patients. Atlantic Health laboratories run between 1,500 and 2,000 COVID tests per day.

“We have dramatically enhanced our capabilities with the most advanced and reliable testing for
COVID-19, which has helped us streamline and facilitate care,” said Lisa McFarlane, PhD, MLS, director of laboratory services for Atlantic Health System. “Being able to detect variants is the next step in caring for our patients, while keeping our caregivers and facilities safe.”

Atlantic Health operates Morristown Medical Center, Overlook Medical Center, Newton Medical Center, Chilton Medical Center, Hackettstown Medical Center and Goryeb Children's Hospital.

Variant Impact

Governor Phil Murphy told CNN last month that New Jersey will have to hold off on reopenings because of the surge in COVID-19 virus variants.

Murphy said the surge in variants means that New Jersey won't have reopenings in the near future. He didn't provide a specific timeline.

"We won't be opening further capacities for some time now," Murphy said on CNN's New Day on March 22. "We want to do this safely and responsibly."

According to the New Jersey Department of Health's COVID-19 dashboard Monday, New Jersey has 627 cases of B.1.1.7, the so-called British variant of COVID-19, 112 cases of B.1.526, which has the New York variant moniker, eight cases of P.1, a strain identified in Brazil and Japan, six cases of B.1.427, a California variant, two cases each of B.1.429 and B.1.351, which is another Californian variant and South African variant respectively, and a single case of P.2, another Brazilian variant.

The concern over variants, which are widely believed to spread quicker than the original version of COVID-19, is also shared in New York. Last month data from their Department of Health showed during the week of March 15-21 variants represent over 70 percent of COVID-19 cases sequenced.

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