LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MiraDx, a Los Angeles-based molecular genetics company that transitioned its CLIA-certified laboratory to provide COVID-19 PCR testing, is further expanding access to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in California. This will help these facilities provide fast and accurate COVID-19 testing for health care personnel and residents in accordance with recently released guidelines issued by the California Department of Public Health.
The MiraDx lab, which is now exclusively processing COVID-19 tests, has capacity of up to 5,000 tests per day for SNFs to ensure they are able to comply with the state’s guidelines, which include: exclusive use of PCR testing with 48-hour turnaround time; baseline testing for all residents and healthcare personnel in facilities that do not currently have a positive case; and testing of 25 percent of healthcare personnel every seven days, including staff from multiple shifts and facility locations, with 100 percent of each facility’s staff being tested each month.
“There is no higher priority at MiraDx than helping prevent this virus from causing further devastation within the facilities that care for vulnerable members of our families and communities,” said Dr. Joanne Weidhaas, co-founder of MiraDx. “As our company continues to provide testing for thousands of LA County residents through County testing facilities, as well as first responders and essential workers, our goal is to help slow, and hopefully prevent, the devastating spread of COVID-19 among staff and residents at skilled nursing facilities.”
MiraDx has a CLIA-certified lab with a “high complexity molecular processing” designation that allows it to conduct PCR testing, a highly sensitive approach that results in more than 90 percent accuracy in detecting the COVID-19 virus and is considered the gold standard in testing. To determine whether an individual is infected with COVID-19, a sample is collected from a throat swab. The MiraDx test includes an air-tight vial, collection swab, a biohazard bag, and simple instructions for collecting the sample needed for testing. The sample itself is collected under the supervision of a healthcare professional.
MiraDx’s analysis technique can identify as little as four copies of coronavirus RNA in an individual sample, meaning that the virus can be detected at even the early stages of infection and/or in asymptomatic individuals. Other types of tests currently on the market are either less sensitive (resulting in false negatives) or they do not tell patients when they are no longer contagious, which either leaves them in quarantine too long or presents the risk of them coming out of quarantine too soon.
MiraDx’s COVID-19 test has been developed in line with the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization requirements.
About MiraDx
Dr. Joanne Weidhaas, MD, PhD, MSM is the co-founder of MiraDx and a professor and vice-chair in the department of radiation oncology at UCLA.
MiraDx is a Los Angeles-based molecular genetics company that identifies, validates, develops, and delivers novel germline biomarker tests for individualized cancer treatments, and now performs COVID-19 testing. Its goal is to improve human health and advance personalized medicine through the application of novel functional germline biomarkers. To learn more about MiraDx, please visit miradx.com. Please send inquiries to info@miradx.com.