[How did the private labs fit onto COVID-19 crisis?]

Abstract

Confronted with the COVID-19 crisis, healthcare professionals have had to tackle an epidemic crisis of a huge magnitude for which they were not prepared. Medical laboratories have been on the front line, from collecting samples to performing the analysis required to diagnose this new pathology. Responding to the needs and to the urgency of the situation, the authorities relied on the network of private laboratories. In France, private laboratory medicine represents 70% of overall activity, and with a network of more than 4,000 local laboratories, private laboratory medicine has been the cornerstone of the « screen-trace-isolate » strategy. This article gives feedback from private laboratory medicine professionals, directly involved in the reorganization carried out at the pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical stages, during the crisis from March to October 2020.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS CoV-2; health crisis; pandemia; private medical laboratories.