On Monday, the county sent 156 samples — its first batch — to be tested for the coronavirus at MAKO Medical in Raleigh. Montgomery County Commissioner Dr. Val Arkoosh said patients received results in about 12 hours.
She heard from multiple residents who “by 8 o’clock on Tuesday morning had gotten a text message from MAKO that their results were available through their patient portal.”
“We’re hoping if there aren’t issues with transportation or things like that, that we will continue to see very timely results, which we just couldn’t be happier about,” she said.
The county collects the samples at six sites across the area. They’ve been collecting about 30 tests from each site.
On Monday, they plan to increase that amount, with the goal of eventually getting to 50 tests a day.
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“And then our eventual goal — to get up to 100 tests per site — that is probably mid-September that we’re looking at that,” Arkoosh said.
The county signed on with MAKO late last month when results from Quest Diagnostics were taking more than a week to come back. The contract with MAKO requires results within 36 hours.