William Morice II, M.D., Ph.D., provides expert perspective on COVID-19 testing

January 19, 2022

With omicron cases continuing to surge, the need for access to reliable COVID-19 testing has never been more urgent. A recent ABC News feature turned to experts across the country to discuss the tests that are available now, which test to use when, and the dependability of each.

William Morice II, M.D., Ph.D., president of Mayo Clinic Laboratories, was among those consulted for the article. He addressed the current availability of COVID-19 testing, as well as tests that can detect a combination of viruses, such as those that include both COVID and influenza.

“That will be really important, and it's certainly needed," Dr. Morice said. "Last year was really anomalous in that we had no influenza whatsoever. Now we're seeing rates going back up, so we'll need it for that reason."

Read the full story here.

In another recent news story about at-home COVID-19 antigen testing, Dr. Morice clarified that it doesn’t matter how bold or faint it is, if you get a positive line on an antigen test, treat the test result as positive.

“There are a lot of reasons why that line could be faint,” Dr. Morice says. “One could be you don't have much virus in there, another could be poor reactivity, another could be a poor specimen.”

Watch the full story here.