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Local health care providers and diagnostics companies are feeling the squeeze as demand increases for Covid-19 testing amid fears of the more-contagious Delta variant. The pattern has also affected companies that manufacture and process the tests, such as Quest Diagnostics. As of this week the Secaucus, N.J.–based company has performed 44.5 million tests since the beginning of the pandemic.

If you're not sure what's causing your symptoms, you might want to start with an allergy test first. "When it comes to allergies, knowledge is power," says Jeffrey S. Dlott, MD, MS, senior medical director for Quest Diagnostics.

U.S. laboratory Quest Diagnostics Inc said on Thursday demand for COVID-19 testing had increased since the end of June as the more infectious Delta variant spreads across the country.

Quest Diagnostics CEO Steve Rusckowski told CNBC the company is seeing an increase in Covid-19 tests as the more contagious delta variant spreads across the country.

Quest Diagnostics Inc. reported Thursday second-quarter adjusted profit that more than doubled to beat expectations, as revenue also topped forecasts, as the recovery in the lab results and diagnostics company cited a faster-than-expected recovery in its base business.

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed and exacerbated the health and healthcare disparities that have long affected underserved communities. Those who suffer from chronic illnesses may have delayed or stopped testing and treatment during the pandemic. That’s why Quest Diagnostics is teaming up with former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Warrick Dunn and several Tampa Bay nonprofits to provide free health services to those 18 and older.

Almost everyone expected 2020 would be a difficult year for substance abuse. On Wednesday, the Centers for Disease Control released the latest drug overdose death statistics showing not only the scope of the addiction crisis but the prevalence of fentanyl in illicit drug fatalities. Dr. Jeff Gudin, a senior medical adviser in drug monitoring and toxicology for Quest Diagnostics, started noticing a worrying trend of polysubstance abuse pick up in the spring of 2020 while monitoring the results of drug tests.

With the implementation of Pap tests and testing for the human papillomavirus (HPV), cervical cancer rates have significantly declined. However, in recent years, a debate has emerged about the benefit of cotesting, that is Pap plus HPV together, versus HPV primary alone, leaving patients and many clinicians confused about what is the best path to monitor their cervical health; By Damian P. Alagia, III, MD.

A study published in May found that screening for STDs in the U.S. dropped by 40 percent from the start of the pandemic in late February 2020 to April 2020. Testing rebounded in June 2020, but by then, positivity rates for chlamydia and gonorrhea had both increased from the year before.

Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Quest Diagnostics recently released corporate social responsibility reports detailing their efforts to promote access, diversity and inclusion both internally and externally among the communities they serve. "We continue to have conversations between supervisors and team members on what we need to address," said Cecilia McKenney, senior vice president and chief human resource officer, Quest Diagnostics.

Choose Healthy Life, a national initiative involving Black clergy, United Way of New York City and others, has been awarded a $9.9 million U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grant to expand vaccinations. The federal funding will help establish an infrastructure to start screenings. Quest Diagnostics and its foundation has already provided funding and testing help.

With COVID-19 vaccinations lagging in Georgia, a newly formed coalition launched an initiative Tuesday to convince unvaccinated Georgians to get tested for the virus. With vaccine hesitancy remaining high not only in Georgia but across the country, ACT Against COVID is being rolled out nationwide through a partnership with Quest Diagnostics.

Rusckowski’s company, a top provider of clinical diagnostic services nationwide, received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Feb. 29, 2020 to start creating COVID-19 tests. The first tests Quest supplied came March 10, 2020. More than 15 months later, Quest has supplied about 48 million tests.

As screening rates went down for gonorrhea and chlamydia during the COVID-19 pandemic, weekly positivity rates increased, according to Quest Diagnostics’ 2020 Health Trends Study®. The results were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

GPB's Ellen Eldridge talks with Dr. Harvey Kaufman about a new study showing rates of HCV testing declined during the pandemic. Health experts are now recommending all adults get tested and, if positive for HCV, start treatment early to prevent serious liver disease and death from hepatitis C.

Screening and testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) fell dramatically - even as the share of positive tests increased - during the early months of the pandemic, a new study suggests. Researchers from Penn State University and Quest Diagnostics found that testing decreased by about 60 percent for both men and women.

The coronavirus pandemic shook up the U.S. employment picture last year, but one trend persisted: a rising share of workers who test positive for marijuana. The proportion of U.S. workers who tested positive for marijuana in urine climbed higher in 2020 while the overall share of positive drug tests plateaued last year, according to Quest Diagnostics Inc.

Quest Diagnostics is working with artificial-intelligence startup Paige to try to identify new biomarkers of cancer and other diseases and develop new software products, the companies said Tuesday. Quest and Paige plan to work together to develop software products that diagnose various cancers based on the biomarkers they discover, for which the companies will seek regulatory approval.

Childhood obesity has disproportionately affected Hispanic and Black communities as a result of negative social determinants of health for years. To help address the health inequity crisis, the Social and Health Research Center (SAHRC) of San Antonio, Texas has developed an evidenced-based program using an innovative digitized curriculum designed to engage children. Quest Diagnostics is collaborating with SAHRC to bring the curriculum to schools and communities where it is most needed.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused major decreases in hepatitis C virus testing and treatment, hindering efforts to meet WHO goals for 2030, according to a study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “As much as we think about 2020 as the year of the pandemic, it’s also going to be the year that we're going to remember hepatitis C,” Harvey W. Kaufman, MD, senior medical director at Quest Diagnostics and head of Quest Diagnostics health trends research, told Healio.

Ginkgo Bioworks this week said it is collaborating with Quest Diagnostics to provide COVID-19 testing for grades K-12 to support in-class learning nationwide. The Boston-based firm noted that Quest can perform 300,000 COVID-19 molecular tests daily through its network of two dozen COVID-19 testing labs, while Ginkgo's Concentric by Ginkgo platform allows schools to sign up for testing, secure data management, order supplies, integrate follow-up testing regimes, and provide support services.

While people might be able to use the terms interchangeably in day-to-day convos, there actually are differences between the terms "disease" and "infection." Technically, a disease is considered an advanced form of an infection, Damian "Pat" Alagia, MD, ob-gyn and the senior medical director for advanced diagnostics and women's health at Quest Diagnostics, tells Health.

Quest Diagnostics has extended its QuestDirect COVID-19 Testing Program to small businesses. The program, which was designed to help small businesses foster safer environments for their employees and customers using insights from easy, fast and convenient COVID-19 molecular diagnostic and/or antibody testing services, is now available for wider use.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, workers at Quest Diagnostics are sharing what it's been like working on the front lines. Quest is a leader in diagnostic testing throughout the nation and has played a critical role during the pandemic.

Preventive tests fell sharply in the early weeks of the pandemic. Although they've started to rebound, many patients remain undiagnosed or face waits for office visits. To combat this, several insurers sent at-home colon cancer screenings kits to patients who were due for their exam. Last month, Quest Diagnostics rolled out a similar type of at-home screening. The company made its first bet in consumer-directed testing long before the start of the pandemic, when it launched an at-home STD test in 2019.