ST PAUL, Minn. — The first presumptive case of COVID-19 in Minnesota was tested in the infectious disease lab at the Minnesota Department of Health's Public Health Lab.
Right now, it's the only place in Minnesota testing samples for COVID-19.
Samples from all over the state are sent to the lab, which is the only place in Minnesota right now conducting COVID-19 testing.
The tests start like those for any other virus, by extracting what's essentially the virus' DNA. Then a kit from the CDC, specific to COVID-19, comes into play.
"Everyone is using this test in the United States in our public health laboratories," said Moe Sullivan, supervisor of the Public Health Lab's Emergency Preparedness & Response Unit.
The kit comes with primers, which detect COVID-19.
Sullivan says the entire process takes about six hours, but after analyzing data and other checks, the turnaround time can take about 24 hours.
Sullivan says she expects they'll be doing a lot more COVID-19 testing in the days to come.
"I think we expect our volumes [of samples] to increase a lot," she said.