Fig 1.
Schematic representation of the SARS-CoV-2 testing system, including 1) a variety of community and facility sites collecting samples for testing, which are transported to 2) a centralized SARS-CoV-2 testing laboratory, which completes the test and 3) delivers results back to the individual through multiple platforms. Information systems link the different sectors.
Fig 2.
Sample collection and testing process.
Steps performed at sample collection sites are shown in blue, sample accessioning in green, and laboratory steps in yellow.
Fig 3.
(Top left) Samples racked and scanned; note the many different sizes and shapes. (Top right) Tubes are uncapped and deswabbed manually then placed on the deck of the Hamilton STARlet for transfer to deep-well plates. (Bottom left) Deep-well plates stacked in front of a Hamilton STAR for RNA extraction. (Bottom right) qPCR in progress and completed.
Fig 4.
Number of samples arriving for testing at UMPA/MG weekly (line) and daily (bars) during a six-week period in November and December 2020.
Fig 5.
Time to return results at UMPA/MG during a six-week period in November and December 2020.
Table 1.
Baseline parameters.
Fig 6.
Example of validation results.
The model reproduces the empirical data from six weeks of varying demand and two hypothetical higher-demand scenarios.
Fig 7.
KPIs for the baseline scenario that represents current UMPA/MG operations.
(a) Tests conducted per week. (b) Average turnaround time from collection to result. (c) Percent utilization of resources at each process step (e.g., technicians or robots).
Fig 8.
Changes in capacity resulting from various process modifications.
Table 2.
Capacity and bottlenecks with various process modifications.
Fig 9.
Average turnaround time for demand scenarios with one-day spikes compared to evenly spread demand, for Scenario 1.
Table 3.
Minimum resources required to meet target levels of demand (8-hour shifts).