PHILADELPHIA — A newly opened lab gives the Philadelphia Department of Public Health the technology to identify COVID-19 variants, a long-awaited resource with the potential to also track other health hazards, from E. coli to syphilis.
The genetic sequencing lab went live at the end of July, making Philadelphia one of only four big American cities with their own such facility, said Bernadette Matthis, the health department’s public health lab director. At full capacity, the lab could process more than 300 samples a week.
“We just wanted to have in-house testing, so we could turn it around quickly,” Matthis said.
