Private laboratories are beginning to test for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, along with the Alabama Department of Public Health, which began processing specimens last week.

Dr. Karen Landers, area health officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health, said the state lab ran 10 tests over the weekend. All of them were negative. Prior to that, the agency sent about 10 samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So far, no patients in Alabama have tested positive for the coronavirus. But the disease continues to spread in the U.S. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 600 people have tested positive in the United States and 22 have died. Coronavirus cases have been detected in Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana and more than two dozen other states.

The slow rollout of testing in the United States has caused some concern that milder cases may be going unrecognized as the illness spreads from travelers into the community. Last week federal authorities loosened guidelines for coronavirus testing which has allowed local labs to increase their screening ability.

“Our [Bureau of Clinical Laboratories] has indicated that they have the capacity to receive and test the numbers of specimens on persons who meet ADPH’s testing criteria,” Landers said. “For any persons not meeting ADPH’s criteria for testing but physicians want to test them, they have been asked to please work with the commercial laboratories of their choice.”

Landers said the department would provide updates every Friday on the number of people tested.

Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the division of infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is a member of the governor’s COVID-19 task force. She has been monitoring the spread of the coronavirus and efforts to track it.

“It’s very low and needs to ramp up quickly, especially since Louisiana now confirmed a case,” she said the of department’s testing numbers.

Landers said LabCorp is now offering tests for the novel coronavirus. Physicians and other healthcare providers can seek testing directly from the company, according to their website. The company has several locations in Alabama.

Quest Diagnostics began offering coronavirus today in some locations. Landers said it might be available in Alabama soon.

Updated at 5:52 p.m. with a quote from Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo