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Doing their part: UNC researchers develop COVID-19 test

So far Dr. Melissa Miller said they've tested about 40 patient samples, and counting. She says they eventually hope to be able to test 500 patients a day.

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Due to a concern over a lack of availability of tests, some commercial and private companies are rolling out their own. That now includes UNC Health, they say they want to stay a step ahead.

Dr. Melissa Miller with the UNC school of medicine developed the test. It hopes to alleviate pressure on the very few other labs that are currently able to do testing.

"Now we are able to do our own test instead of waiting for a test from a commercial lab, or from a commercial company that might be making a test," she said. "We've developed our own test. And we can test our own patients."

So far Dr. Miller said they've tested about 40 patient samples, and counting. She says they eventually hope to be able to test 500 patients a day.

Right now, the test is only available to patients at UNC facilities. Dr. Miller says, nationwide, there is still a shortage of testing capacity.

"We should've had higher testing capacity weeks ago," she said. "There's no question. We are way behind. This really is a public health crisis."

But they are doing their part to help.

"I probably have never been more stressed in my career," she said. "It's been a very high-stress level. We work very hard. There's intense pressure to get testing up. But of course, we want to make sure we're doing it right and careful."

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