Covid Diagnostic and Antibody Testing Updates for Orange County

We have been pushing the mantra of–

Know if you’re contagious

Know if you’re immune 

Test. Test. Test. 

We are all aware of the large spike in new Covid cases recently. This has created a unprecedented demand for the PCR swab test.

We continue to do these curbside on a near daily basis. That will not change during the current crisis.

However the labs we use -such as Lab Corp and Quest have informed us that due to this large demand results may be delayed a few days. Where we were receiving results in 2 or 3 days , we are being told to expect a 3 to 5 business day turnaround and sometimes up to a week.

That is understandable since there’s a finite number of machines but a large increase in the number of tests.

I advise all of our patients who undergo swabbing with symptoms to stay isolated until the results are back.

Additionally, we have been researching the so-called “quick swabs” which give results in under 24 hours. The sad fact is I cannot justify the high number of false negatives associated with the quick test.

Therefore Caduceus and PDQ will not be offering the test until we can be assured of a better accuracy rate. We would discourage our patients from seeking or taking the test, as tempting as it is to have a quicker answer.

Gregg DeNicola MD, Chief Medical Officer