Michigan health officials said Thursday that the state lab in Lansing now has the ability to conduct its own testing on people who meet the criteria for possible coronavirus infection.

At the Senate health policy and human services committee meeting, Joneigh Khaldun, M.D., the state's chief medical executive, said the turnaround time for a coronavirus sample test is four hours.

"We are just learning the characteristics of the virus. Once our lab receives the sample it is four hours to get the results, but it needs to get to us," Khaldun said. "The (local) nurse takes the sample, and it must be shipped to us. We have a system in place to have it happen as quickly as possible."

About a dozen states, including California, Nebraska and Illinois, have the approved test for coronavirus from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In mid-February, the CDC initially sent out some faulty test kits to more than two dozen states.

Sen Paul Wojno, D-Warren, asked if hospitals are prepared to treat patients with coronavirus and if there are any antiviral drugs that can be used to mitigate symptoms of what is now called novel COVID-19.

Khaldun said while it will most likely take up to a year to get a working vaccine for COVID-19, an antiviral could be available to public health and hospital providers in several months.

"All hospitals have systems in place. They have protective equipment, gloves, masks, they follow a flu preparation plan," she said. "We are working with hospitals to make sure their supply chains and staffs (are sufficient) if they receive patients."

Sen. Kim LaSata, R-Bainbridge, asked if the coronavirus has distinct symptoms from the common flu or cold.

"There are none, but there are travel distinctions" that providers are trained to ask when people have flu-like symptoms, Khaldun said. "We have a criteria (for testing and quarantine). The risk still is low for sustained community transmissions, but we need to be prepared."

Wojno also asked if a university campus will be locked down or students sent home if a student tests positive for COVID-19.

"It depends," Khaldun said. "We will work very closely with universities to do what is best. We need to evaluate" all situations individually, she said.

CDC guidelines recommend testing for those people who display respiratory symptoms and have recently traveled to China or had close contact with an infected person.

More than 30 countries have reported at least one case of novel coronavirus since it originated in Wuhan, China, with more than 81,000 confirmed cases and 2,700 deaths, primarily in China, Khaldun said.

None of the five specimens of suspected coronavirus that Michigan sent to the CDC for testing were positive, a state spokesman said.