Senator Hassan Takes Virtual Tour of UNH’s New COVID-19 Testing Lab

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Maggie Hassan took a virtual tour of the University of New Hampshire’s (UNH) new COVID-19 testing laboratory this week and discussed the need to expand testing in New Hampshire and across the country.

“I am very proud of the work you are doing and am impressed by it,” Senator Hassan said. “We're here to help and anything that I can do please let me know, because we're going to need to be able to keep testing folks.” 

In August, Senator Hassan held a roundtable discussion with the University System of New Hampshire’s Chancellor Todd Leach where they discussed UNH’s soon-to-be-built testing lab. Today, the fully functioning state-of-the-art lab can screen up to 4,000 COVID-19 samples a day, many of which are self-administered by students, and can turn around test results in less than 48 hours.

"The number of tests and the amount of data that we're generating is what allows us to keep our campuses open and our communities safe,” said Marian McCord, Senior Vice Provost for Research, Economic Engagement and Outreach at the University of New Hampshire. “We’ve looked at other schools across the country and believe our cutting-edge laboratory and testing program make us a national leader and we continue to explore opportunities to both expand our testing capability and partner with other institutions. We are very fortunate here in New Hampshire that we have the support to make this investment for our students.”

Senator Hassan is working to improve access to COVID-19 testing amid this unprecedented public health crisis, and recently led eight of her colleagues in raising concerns about individuals being charged for COVID-19 diagnostic tests. Additionally, Senator Hassan cosponsored the Stop COVID-19 Test Surprise Medical Bills Act of 2020 to help protect Americans from unanticipated COVID-19 test charges.  

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