I worked in a COVID-19 laboratory, AMA

[covidlablife]

I used to work in a COVID-19 lab. I feel like COVID labs have a bit of a bad reputation with the BBC Panorama interview and now the news today about the Wolverhampton lab and the false negatives. In contrast, I have nothing but positive things to say about the lab I worked in.

If anyone has any questions about the labs or testing processes I would love to answer. :)

[thebearandthemare]

Ooh very useful as I await a result before an important event! Why is there so much variation between return times? Does a positive or negative result affect the length of return times?

[DumplingsAndStew]

Why don't you work there any more?

What was your role?

Were there many covid-deniers where you worked?

[covidlablife]

@thebearandthemare

Ooh very useful as I await a result before an important event! Why is there so much variation between return times? Does a positive or negative result affect the length of return times?

There's lots of different reasons! I would say the main reason is how many tests the labs has to process as on busy days there can end up being a backlog of samples waiting to be processed, other days there are less samples and we would be sitting around waiting for samples to be delivered. There are also priority samples which have to be run immediately, so if there are lots of priority samples then it means non-priority samples are left waiting. There are also lots of smaller reasons. Sometimes a machine will break down or it will fail its quality control, which means the whole batch of samples have to be rerun which adds several more hours on to the process.

As far as I'm aware, at least on the lab's end, the result of the test doesn't impact how long it takes for results to be released.

[Spry]

If someone (say the parent of an unwell, distressed child) hasn't stuck the swab sufficiently far up the nostrils, or hasn't performed the requisite number of twists of said swab, will the result come back as inconclusive or will it come back as negative?

I've always been curious to know whether a test that hasn't been performed properly can be distinguished from one that is genuinely negative.

[Porcupineintherough]

What do you think might have gone wrong with the lab near Swindon (the one where they think thousands of test results might be wrong)?

[Iwannabelikeyouohh]

How do the tests work? Is each one looked at one by one?

[covidlablife]

@DumplingsAndStew

Why don't you work there any more?

What was your role?

Were there many covid-deniers where you worked?

It's the kind of job that has quite a high turnover of staff. The hours are long, the contracts are temporary and the work is quite repetitive.

My role was to do PCR on samples to see if they were positive or negative, and for the positive ones do PCR again to see if they were of any of the variants we were monitoring.

No, there were no COVID deniers there that I know of. When you spend your day seeing all of the positive results I don't know how you could be!

[TheChip]

How do you tell the difference between variants?

Were there other variants that kind of went under the radar due to being so few cases showing up?

[AlanisMorningShed]

Once the test has been processed, what safety measures are in place to make sure the results go to the correct person?

How often does the result go to the wrong recipient, and how would you know if this has happened?

[covidlablife]

@Spry

If someone (say the parent of an unwell, distressed child) hasn't stuck the swab sufficiently far up the nostrils, or hasn't performed the requisite number of twists of said swab, will the result come back as inconclusive or will it come back as negative?

I've always been curious to know whether a test that hasn't been performed properly can be distinguished from one that is genuinely negative.

Yes, you can get false negatives from not performing the test properly.

[Satsunday]

What do you wear when processing the samples? E.g. are you all in hazmat suits? Did you ever feel scared that you might catch it from one of the samples?

[covidlablife]

@Porcupineintherough

What do you think might have gone wrong with the lab near Swindon (the one where they think thousands of test results might be wrong)?

To be honest, I have no idea! Just by going by my experience in the lab I worked in, there were so many strict protocols and procedures in place I don't know how or where in the lab process these false negatives could have occurred, especially with that many samples.

[covidlablife]

@Iwannabelikeyouohh

How do the tests work? Is each one looked at one by one?

Each sample is individually opened and the swab is removed. They are loaded onto the machines and scanned in groups of 100-300 depending on the machine being used and everything from that stage is quite automated with machines mixing the samples with the reagents for PCR.

[Dddccc]

Ds had this result today and pcr booked for tomorrow can you get false positive tests he was a nightmare to swap and only managed 1 nostril

[RedRiverShore]

Is it a class 2 laboratory that this work is done in

[FromTheAshes]

What causes an inconclusive result? Is there anything a tester can do to learn the chances of this result? My daughter's result has just come back as inconclusive, she was terrified of having it done but kept still and I took what I thought was a reasonable nose sample from her. I'm dreading telling her she's got to do it again.

[SirensofTitan]

To be honest, I have no idea! Just by going by my experience in the lab I worked in, there were so many strict protocols and procedures in place I don't know how or where in the lab process these false negatives could have occurred, especially with that many samples

Would it be possible to not do the tests and somehow record them as negative? What's the process for actually linking a result to a person's details?

[DaisyNGO]

Is the machine like a micrscope?

[Juliantheloaf]

Do samples from key workers in health get prioritised?

[Schulte]

Thanks for this!

How are the ‘identities’ of the samples tracked as they go through the testing process, if they go through the machines in batches?

[DamnYouAutoCarRental]

What are the quality controls you use?

How are results processed electronically? Is there Direct Data Capture from the machines? Is there a specialised lab computer database, or do you use excel?

I've worked in a non-covid lab and find it amazing that over 40000 results could go wrong over weeks without someone noticing anything. If you had to guess, do you think it's an issue with the testing methods, or transfer of data? I realise this would be speculation, but find it interesting!

[ChittyChittyBoomBoom]

How long does the actual analysis take? From putting in the machine to getting a result?

What is the sign that a swab is positive?

[PleaseReferToMeAsBritneySpears]

@Juliantheloaf

Do samples from key workers in health get prioritised?

Sorry to butt in, but in our experience, (which might be as useful as this AMA) yes. DD currently works as a support worker in a mental health hospital (and this is recorded when booking the test) and her results are always 12 hours, whereas everyone else's are more like 48 hours atm.

[Juliantheloaf]

@PleaseReferToMeAsBritneySpears mine too, I’m a front line HCP. I did wonder, they must ask for a reason!

[Kylorey]

What cycle threshold did your lab use? Did it ever vary?