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Ohio issues order requiring hospitals that don't perform coronavirus testing to send tests to hospitals that do, not private labs

Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton has issued an order requiring hospitals to send their coronavirus tests to other hospitals, not private labs.

With Ohio facing an urgency to get back its coronavirus (COVID-19) testing results, the state has issued an order in hopes of speeding up the process.

On Wednesday, Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton issued an order requiring hospitals that don't have the capabilities to complete their coronavirus testing to send their tests to hospitals that do have such capability, as opposed to private labs. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said that the turnaround time at the hospitals is much quicker than it has been at private labs, whose turnaround time he deemed "unacceptable."

DeWine said that hospitals such as the Cleveland Clinic currently have the capacity to complete such tests.

The second part of Wednesday's order states that Ohio will start using rapid testing as soon as it becomes available in the state. DeWine said he expects this to happen next week.

As of Wednesday, Ohio has had 2,547 confirmed coronavirus cases, 679 of which have resulted in hospitalization, 222 Intensive Care Unit admissions and 65 deaths. Dating back to the discovery of the state's first positive coronavirus case on March 9, DeWine has taken a number of measures to encourage physical distancing, including issuing a stay-at-home order across the state set to last through at least April 6.

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