The Lab Shortage Crisis and COVID-19

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Society heavily relies on laboratories. Test results disclosed by these labs help discover, diagnose, and study diseases. Furthermore, lab tests dictate clinical decisions and treatments for patients. As the population’s need for lab results increases, so does the demand for rapid tests. However, the past decade has seen a shortage of lab techs. This staff shortage has segued into a lab shortage crisis due to COVID-19.

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The 1990 lab tech shortage

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Some say the lab tech shortage has been decades in the making. Since 1990, accredited training programs for lab techs have decreased by 25 percent. In addition, most lab techs consist of baby boomers, a generation prime in its retirement. Clinical laboratories’ recruitment efforts practically don’t exist. Therefore, public knowledge of professional lab opportunities barely exists. Most perceptions of jobs in healthcare relate to nurses, doctors, and paramedics.

Combine an aging population, less accredited training programs, and a pandemic all together, you have the perfect storm.

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Not only do labs have to deal with a massive staff shortage severely impacting their ability to conduct COVID-19 antibody testing, but they must also deal with a shortage of supplies. Many laboratories such as UW’s Virology lab ramped up its testing in March. Since then, they’ve still had the ability to run thousands of tests on a daily basis.

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“Essentially every day, we have testing capacity in the lab which is going unused, and obviously that’s a source of tremendous frustration for us,” said UW Virology head Dr. Keith Jerome.

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Labs supplying themselves

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Instead of waiting on the federal government to supply them, the lab continues to take steps to supply themselves.“That’s how we started from the beginning when we started making our own test for the virus,” Jerome said. “We didn’t wait for the CDC test or anybody else. We started on our own, and thank goodness for that.”

According to Harvard Univerity, the U.S. needs to triple its testing before the country can begin to reopen and relax its social distancing. With staff and supplies shortage, this might be easier said than done. However, since the pandemic, younger generations may now begin to see the importance of these vital roles.

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