Using Proficiency Testing to Ensure Accurate SARS-CoV-2 Testing

In the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19, clinical laboratories have shown an unwavering commitment to the patients they serve by ramping up efforts to deploy COVID-19 testing. The CAP is committed to supporting your efforts and is happy to announce COV2, a new proficiency testing (PT) program for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 by nucleic acid amplification testing. The new PT program’s material is non-infectious and targets gene regions N, E, RdRp, ORF1a, and S. In this CAPcast, Dr. Bobbi Pritt, Director of the Clinical Parasitology Laboratory and Co-Director of Vector-borne Diseases Laboratory Services at Mayo Clinic, discusses what pathologists and laboratories need to know about COV2. Dr. Pritt is also the chairperson of the CAP’s Microbiology Committee, who was instrumental in designing the recently launched proficiency testing program for SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus. To learn more and order COV2, visit CAP.org: https://capatholo.gy/34FmvRO.