AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) – The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention says it now has the ability to test for the new coronavirus.
That ends the need to ship samples out of state.
Samples collected in Maine before Friday were sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab for testing.
Several tests are still pending but no one has tested positive for the virus in the state.
Effective Monday, the state lab will conduct the tests, The tests take about 48 hours to get results.
Samples that test positive for the virus will be classified as presumptive positives and will be sent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmation.
