The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' Little Rock campus is shown in this file photo. - Photo by Benjamin Krain

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences officials now don't know when they'll be able to consistently process hundreds of coronavirus tests per day, despite publicly anticipating that quantity in recent weeks.

Previous projections were based on "capacity," which differs from "capability," UAMS chief executive officer Steppe Mette said in an interview.

A shortage of reagents — the chemicals used to perform the test — means officials don't have a timeline for when UAMS' suppliers can deliver sufficient materials to run a high volume of tests, or defined estimates on how many tests can be processed from day to day going forward.

"We're ordering reagents that would allow us to operate at full capacity. They're simply not being delivered," UAMS Chancellor Cam Patterson said.

"None of us were aware that it was going to be so difficult to get the kits that would allow us to do the assays. We have the machines to do them."

A manufacturer called the academic medical center Monday night to say it could deliver reagents to run 60 tests today, though that was less than what they had ordered, Mette said.

Patterson said UAMS would not have purchased machines to run the tests or developed an in-house test if it did not intend to run at full capacity.

Officials said estimates of several hundred tests per day — offered at news conferences and to reporters — reflected the information they had at the time, and did not incorporate the reagent bottleneck.

"This does not represent any misleading on our part, not intentionally," Mette said.

An in-house test (or assay) is still expected to launch this week, and reagents are on hand to execute that test.