Hawaii COVID-19 Rapid Testing Boosted by Statewide Distribution of 15-Minute-Result Instruments 

The Department of Health’s State Laboratories Division performing laboratory testing.

There’s good news to report from the front lines of the DOH’s ever-vigilant mission of gathering the most robust data it can to combat COVID-19 in Hawaii. The DOH’s State Laboratories Division has supplied all four counties with Abbott ID NOW COVID-19 rapid test instruments, which are able to produce results within 15 minutes.

Provided at no cost to the State, thanks to federal funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s International Reagent Resource, the machines are now in use in several locations. Medical professionals at the DOH District Health Office laboratories have instruments on Kauai and Maui. On Hawaii Island, instruments have been stationed in hospitals in Kona and Hilo. On Oahu, two each are available at Diagnostic Laboratory Services Inc., Clinical Labs of Hawaii and Kaiser Permanente Hawaii.

Testing using ID NOW is conducted only on symptomatic patients based on priority symptoms and factors reported by physicians requesting rapid testing.

“Having this capability to test a critically ill patient within 15 minutes is a great tool in the fight against COVID-19,” explains Dr. Edward Desmond, administrator of the DOH’s State Laboratories Division. “It helps us detect the virus quickly and respond much faster to help the patient and inform staff to ensure safety measures are in place.”