This Bellingham lab has run a million COVID-19 tests and is hiring 115 more employees
As new cases of COVID-19 continue to spike, a Bellingham lab that provides testing services is recruiting 115 new employees and reorganizing its space to meet increasing and ongoing demand.
Northwest Laboratory also needs more employees to contend with worker burnout, a national trend explored in a Dec. 3 New York Times article about the non-stop demand on lab techs who have run more than 205 million tests nationally since the pandemic began, and the strain they’re working under.
“This is probably the biggest thing our lab faces right now — burnout of staff,” said Jenny Bull, chief operating officer for Northwest Laboratory, referencing the Times story.
In late March, Northwest Laboratory announced it had successfully completed its validation to process COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction tests. Known as PCR, the test looks for the genetic material of the virus that causes the illness.
Since then, it has conducted 1 million-plus tests — with the help of more than 400 employees, more than 350 of them in Whatcom County.
Northwest Laboratory runs 7,000 to 20,000 tests a day, and serves 37 states though the bulk of its work comes from Washington state, according to the company.
It can run 25,000 to 30,000 tests a day, “when everything is running smooth,” Bull said.
It’s adding to that capacity by hiring more people to do the work.
The lab also offers five drive-thru testing locations in Bellingham, Everett, Olympia, Silverdale and Spokane. Those sites test people who have a doctor’s order — usually before a scheduled procedure or because they have symptoms of COVID-19, according to Bull.
Building capacity
Going into Thanksgiving, Whatcom County public health officials asked residents to abstain from getting tested for COVID-19 as a way to screen themselves before attending Thanksgiving gatherings.
They said then that the low-barrier mobile testing sites — called that because people didn’t have to first get a doctor’s order — operated by the Whatcom County Health Department and Whatcom Unified Command were at their maximum capacity, adding that they wanted to ensure Washington residents with COVID-19 symptoms had access to tests.
Northwest Lab analyzes those COVID-19 test results operated by Whatcom County.
In October, those tests totaled 5,814.
In November, they totaled 9,980, according to numbers that Bull provided to The Bellingham Herald.
“That said, the testing barrier does not reside with the laboratory,” Bull said. “We have capacity and will continue to build that capacity.”
Avoid pre-gathering tests
Going into Christmas, New Year’s Eve and other family-focused holidays and observances in December, the Whatcom County Health Department is once again asking people to gather only with the people they live with and to abstain from getting a COVID-19 test at the low-barrier test site to screen themselves for travel or gatherings.
It strains the site’s testing ability and offers no guarantees, according to Erika Lautenbach, director for the Whatcom County Health Department.
“It’s certainly not the end all be all, whether or not a person is safe to be around others,” Lautenbach said Tuesday, Dec. 8, during a virtual media briefing.
She referenced the American Dynasty trawler outbreak that occurred in May. When the fishing vessel left port in Seattle, all crew members tested negative. Two weeks later, the ship arrived in Bellingham and 86 crew members tested positive.
“A negative test doesn’t always mean negative,” Lautenbach said. “It just means negative at that point in time. It’s not a free pass to see friends and family a few days later.”
Positive cases continue to surge after people in Whatcom County and elsewhere gathered and traveled for Thanksgiving, and public health officials worry about December and January as they continue to urge people to celebrate with the people they live with only.
Lautenbach said a travel advisory remained in place, and that the testing offered by the health department and Whatcom Unified Command does have limitations.
“We do have constraints in terms of our ability to test, and we need to make sure that we’re prioritizing people who are symptomatic or have been identified as a close contact over people who want to go to Hawaii or visit family and friends,” she said.
