Reducing employee burnout in COVID-19 testing labs

As of September 1st, the CDC had reported over 79 million COVID-19 tests have been performed in the US since March. The increased testing demands brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have been causing supply chain shortages for months now. While supply chain shortages have been getting a lot of press lately, they are not the only shortages affecting COVID-19 testing workflow. Prior to the pandemic, labor shortages were already recognized as an issue for many labs. To process these 79 million COVID-19 tests many labs are running 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Labs were not prepared to deal with this sudden onslaught of testing, leading to rapid burnout amongst laboratory employees.