Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced a partnership with medical technology company PerkinElmer to potentially more than double the state’s COVID-19 testing capacity while lowering costs.
The contract aims to allow an additional 150,000 tests to be performed daily, in addition to the state’s current daily average of 100,000 tests.
“What is significant in this partnership is we are demanding test results back within 24 hours — at the latest, 48 hours — and we have provisions in the contract to guarantee that turnaround time," Newsom said during a noon briefing.
Testing turnaround times have been lagging across the state with a current average of five to seven days — in some cases upwards of two weeks, according to state health officials. Slow response times mean that test results “lose their meaning and significance” and can hobble efforts to “mitigate the spread of the disease,” said the governor.
The cost of testing, as agreed upon in the contract with PerkinElmer, will range from $30.78 to $47.99 per test depending on overall volume, said the governor, compared to current testing prices in the range of $150-200. The contract will initially cost the state $100 million, with a maximum amount of $1.4 billion.