Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, essential workers on the frontline like healthcare professionals, grocery store workers, and public transportation drivers have received a great deal of praise from the American people. The idea that they’re willing to risk their lives to serve their communities during a time of crisis is honorable, to say the least. While they certainly deserve all the acknowledgments and praise, a commonly overlooked group of professionals are laboratory workers.
Pathologists, medical researchers, medical technicians, genetic counselors, and other laboratory personnel work tirelessly every day to fight the coronavirus pandemic on all fronts for the greater good. Despite the riskiness of working directly with this vicious and sometimes deadly virus, they feel compelled to utilize their skills and expertise to preserve mankind.
Without pathologists, doctors and nurses would have a more difficult time discerning which tests to order and providing proper diagnosis based on lab test results. Medical scientists work diligently to dissect and prevent/treat complex viruses like COVID-19 by conducting medical research. Essentially, if it weren’t for the hard work and effort put forth by laboratories across the country, healthcare professionals would be hopelessly lost in the fight against this pandemic.
Ramping Up COVID-19 Testing
In an effort to increase the number of American citizens being tested for the coronavirus, the FDA made rule changes to make it easier for qualified research labs to develop tests. Since then, laboratories across the country have been able to design tests that detect the virus with very small samples of the patient’s respiratory tract that are also accurate in detecting the coronavirus (despite preexisting conditions or diseases).
These tests have been mass-produced and generated around the country to increase testing in American citizens which helps to increase early detection, slow the spread, and save millions of lives.
Increasing Antibody Testing
On the other end of the spectrum, medical research laboratories have also been increasing the number of antibody tests. These tests are instrumental in helping medical professionals to discern whether or not patients previously had and fought off the coronavirus. As there are many people infected with the virus that show no symptoms, antibody testing gives medical researchers a better idea of how fast the virus has spread.
While research has not positively concluded that those who have had the virus in the past are immune to it in the future, antibody testing could make it easier for political leaders to determine what percentage of the population is less likely to contract and spread COVID-19. This information can essentially make it easier for the country to reopen and life to return to normal in a safer fashion. Some research labs are even using these antibody tests as a potential resource for finding a treatment or vaccine for the coronavirus.
COVID-19 Vaccine
You’ll find that there are lots of laboratories interested in getting on the frontlines to fight the coronavirus pandemic. This blog wrote an article on how some labs have been successful in securing funding for coronavirus and other pandemic research. Researchers from around the world are racing to find a safe and effective vaccine within a short timeframe.
While companies like CureVac and Imperial College London are only in preclinical stages of the clinical trial, there are frontrunners like BioNTech and Moderna are in phase II in which they are now testing the vaccine in a small group of participants. Though there is still a long road ahead, there is great promise that laboratory professionals could develop and mass-produce a vaccine for the coronavirus by the end of the year.
The COVID-19 pandemic is unlike any health crisis the country has seen since the influenza pandemic in 1918 which claimed the lives of close to 50 million people. Fortunately, technology, science, and medical research have come a long way since then. Not to mention, the great efforts of the laboratory professionals that are risking their lives every day to ensure citizens of this country and around the world can overcome this invisible threat to society.
