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FIRST SET OF PATIENTS. YOU ARE GIVEN THE FIRST LOOK INSIDE U DAVIS’S TESTING LAB. TODAY, THEY UNVEILED COVID-19 TESTING. THE DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE CALLS THIS A GAME CHANGER. >> WHAT THIS MEANS IS WE CAN TEST PEOPLE IN REAL TIME. IT WILL BE A SMALL NUMBER BUT WE WILL BE ABLE TO RAMP THAT UP. >> UC DAVIS IS TESTING THE FIRST SET TODAY. >> TESTING IS FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO ARE ACTIVELY SICK. >> THIS IS A GAME CHANGER FOR OUR TREATMENT. THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE WILL BE ABLE TO TEST EVERYBODY IN THE COMMITTEE RIGHT NOW. EVENTUALLY, YES. NOW, NO. >> RAPID TESTING DEVELOPED IN RAPID TIME. >> THIS RESEARCH CAME OUT OF A COLLABORATION WITH OUR PATHOLOGIST, ARE DOCTORS WHO ARE TAKING CARE OF THE PATIENTS, AND OUR SCIENTISTS. >> TESTING HAPPENS IN HOUSE, MEANING RESULTS COULD COME BACK THE SAME DAY OR THE NEXT DAY. LOCAL INNOVATION DUE TO A LOCAL PATIENT. THEY TOOK SAMPLES FROM THE FIRST PATIENT WHO GOT INFECTED IN THE U.S. WITHOUT TROUBLE TIES.. -- TRAVEL TIES. SCIENTISTS NOW LOOKING BEYOND. >> WE HAVE ONE TRIAL UP AND RUNNING WITH A POTENTIAL DRUG.

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On Thursday, UC Davis Medical Center unveiled its own internal rapid testing for the coronavirus. This is the first internal testing in the Sacramento area, which means the tests are run through a machine and the results are generated on-site instead of being sent out to a separate commercial lab. Patients could get their results the same day. “This is a game changer,” said Dr. Allison Brashear, the Dean of the School of Medicine at UC Davis. The first patients were tested at UC Davis on Thursday. Right now, the medical center can administer 20 tests a day. Eventually, it plans to test 1,000 people daily. “It will mean that we can test the patients who are the most critically ill. It’s important to know the critically ill patient whether they have the flu or they have COVID-19,” Brashear said. The medical breakthrough comes at a time when the country is facing massive delays with COVID-19 testing. “What it means is that we can test people in real time. Now it’ll be a small number to begin. But over the next couple weeks, we will be able to ramp that up,” Brashear said. The testing is only available to UC Davis patients through their doctor, though it will not be readily available to everyone at the outset. “I also want to caution that this does not necessarily mean we’ll be able to test everybody in the community right now. Eventually yes, but right now, no,” Brashear said. UC Davis developed the rapid testing in rapid time. Brashear said planning started just over two weeks ago. “The important thing about this testing is it came about as a partnership between our basic scientists on the UC Davis campus, experts in virology and the nonhuman primate center and many others, and our experts in the pathology department. They worked together to get to this point where we can have a UC Davis-created test,” she said. Scientists and researchers developed the local innovation in part thanks to a local coronavirus patient. Doctors took samples from their first patient who picked up the disease in the United States without travel ties to validate the accuracy of the new test. The UC Davis team is now looking beyond the testing phase and into treatment for COVID-19 as well. “We already have one trial up and running with a potential drug so having this test will be very important to enroll patients,” said Brashear. Coronavirus testing is also available at UCLA, UCSF and UC San Diego.