The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has convened a Testing Surge Workgroup to develop a plan to increase testing, expand testing sites and options, and address testing supply challenges, including the availability of personal protective equipment.
The workgroup is composed of internal NCDHHS staff and leaders from the public and private sector, including:
- Traci Butler, LabCorp, Senior Vice President, Atlantic Division
- Dr. Gerald Capraro, Atrium Health, Director of Clinical Microbiology Lab at Carolinas Pathology Group
- Jay Campbell, North Carolina Board of Pharmacy, Executive Director
- Azzie Conley, NCDHHS Division of Health Service Regulation, Chief, Acute and Home Care Licensure Certification Section
- Dr. Michael Datto, Duke University Health System Clinical Laboratories, Medical Director
- Dr. Garett Franklin, Cary Medical Group, Physician
- Dr. Charlene Green, Old North State Medical Society, President
- Jay Ludlam, NCDHHS Division of Health Benefits, Assistant Secretary for NC Medicaid
- Dr. Melissa Miller, UNC Health Care, Clinical Microbiology and Molecular Microbiology Laboratories, Lab Director
- Alan Myers, Quest Diagnostics, Vice President/General Manager, Southeast Region
- Stacie Saunders, Alamance County Health Department, Public Health Director
- Chris Shank, NC Community Health Center Association, Executive Director
Earlier this week, Governor Roy Cooper charted a path forward for combating COVID-19. The plan focuses on increasing testing capacity, expanding testing sites and addressing supply challenges; ramping up staffing and technology to determine who has been exposed when someone tests positive; and analyzing new data, including number of new cases, hospitalizations, deaths, protective equipment, supplies, hospital capacity and more.