Now, researchers at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs found people’s risk for heart problems jumped after catching COVID-19, even if they lacked risk factors like obesity and diabetes. In their analysis of more than 11 million U.S. veterans’ health records, they found COVID increased their risk for a heart attack by 63%, problematic irregular heart rhythm by 69%, a stroke by 50%, heart failure 70%, and a nearly three times higher risk of a potentially fatal blood clot in the lungs. Even people who never went to the hospital had more cardiovascular disease than those who were never infected.

COVID-19 patients in this study were infected before vaccines were available, so it’s unclear how the shots might alter the findings, but the authors say their findings suggest millions of COVID-19 survivors could suffer long-term consequences and health-care providers around the world should be prepared to address an increase in cardiovascular conditions.

It is not entirely clear how covid could cause heart problems over the long term, though it is known that the virus can affect blood vessels all over the body and in multiple organs, including the heart.

The BA.2 subvariant has been dubbed “stealth omicron” because it is difficult to detect as a mutation by PCR-based testing, the most common testing method for COVID-19. With the original BA.1 strain, scientists could use PCR-based testing to help identify omicron by looking for a S-gene dropout mutation. Once this was found, the scientists could be fairly certain the positive COVID-19 sample was the omicron variant. The stealth omicron subvariant does not have the S-gene dropout characteristic, making it difficult to distinguish BA.2 as the omicron variant vs. other COVID-19 variants by PCR-based testing alone.

In Denmark, BA.2 is now outpacing its predecessor, omicron BA.1, because it is more transmissible than BA.1. A study conducted by Denmark’s Statens Serum Institut (SSI), which analyzed coronavirus cases in over 8,000 Danish households between December and January, found that people infected with the BA.2 subvariant were roughly 33% more likely to infect others, compared to those infected with BA.1.

Throughout the world, the subvariant is currently present in 57 countries as reported to the GISAID database.  With this data, scientists are determining how deadly the strain is and how well it evades the current vaccines. The genetic difference between BA.1 and BA.2 is greater than the difference between the original SARS CoV-2 variant and the alpha variant, according to SSI. These differences could cause increased severity, the SSI also stated. Fortunately, it is expected that COVID-19 vaccines will have an effect in the mitigation of severe illness upon BA.2 infection.

Increasing access to data on these new variants is so important for our overall understanding of the virus and how it will affect the population,” said Kevin Murdock, CEO of Premier Medical Laboratory Services.

As of February 1, 2022, the state of Florida reported two cases of BA.2. Now, PMLS has identified an additional case for the state and will continue to conduct surveillance to help gather vital data on this new omicron subvariant and others.

Premier Medical Laboratory Services (PMLS) is proud to be back to our standard turnaround times of 24-48 hours. We have eliminated our backlog of tests and are now processing 95% of results in under 24 hours. Due to the ongoing Omicron surge, PMLS, like many labs across the country, experienced an unprecedented 733% increase in the number of tests to be processed. Through hard work, investments, and hirings, PMLS was able to “weather the storm” and get back to serving our country the right way.

Here is what Kevin Murdock, CEO of PMLS had to say on the topic: “Each test that we receive is important to us because we know that it affects someone’s quality of life. That’s why our team worked tirelessly to hire and train hundreds of South Carolinians and expand our infrastructure so that we could return to our normal turnaround times of results. We hold ourselves to the highest standards as a laboratory and look forward to serving South Carolina’s diagnostic testing needs.” 

Cause to Testing Delays

Over the last month, laboratories and manufacturers across the country have struggled to keep up with testing demands due to the ongoing Omicron surge. On January 3 alone, the US logged more than 1 million new COVID-19 cases for the first time according to Johns Hopkins University. Scientists found the milestone was driven by the Omicron variant, which is more highly transmissible than other variants. This led to a massive uptick in testing, causing thousands of labs like PMLS to enter an unprecedented situation. From January 3 to the week of January 17, PMLS received an additional tens of thousands of daily tests, far more than their normal daily test volume. This created a backlog. Paired with a record-breaking snowstorm, shipping delays, and supply chain shortages our usual 24-hour turnaround on testing turned into several days. This did not sit well with our leadership at PMLS, so they acted quickly and drafted an immediate plan to get back on track.

Solutions to Testing Delays

PMLS invested millions of dollars in capital equipment to support our infrastructure. As of January 20th, we installed more than 30 machines, increasing our testing capacity by an additional 60,000 tests per day. We have also hired on 300 more employees since the beginning of January and are still working to add on more South Carolinians to the PMLS staff. With the new infrastructure and workflow optimizations, we are now processing tests in under 24 hours and expect to keep it that way. For more information on this from South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) please click on the following link: https://scdhec.gov/news-releases/dhec-announces-premier-medical-cleared-testing-backlogs-returning-wait-times-standard

“Throughout the pandemic, we’ve been proactive in fulfilling our staffing needs,” said Kevin Murdock, CEO and Founder of Premier Medical Laboratory Services. “To ensure that we continue to properly meet testing demands amid this new surge, we are looking to vastly expand our team and to provide jobs in the community.”

PMLS is a CLIA and COLA certified laboratory. They are the choice processing lab for Health and Human Services testing sites, and the trusted COVID-19 management partner for professional sports teams, schools, colleges, large corporations, and health departments across the nation. With an expanding team, they are inviting members of the Upstate community to join them in providing vital services and information, helping to battle COVID-19 and its new variants and to improve the future of healthcare with advanced medical diagnostics.

Currently, the lab is looking to fill the following positions:

Medical Laboratory Technician

Responsible for performing medical tests in the Molecular Lab. Does not need to be certified if a degree in Chemistry or Biology has been attained.

Responsibilities:

• Collect and organize blood, tissue, and other bodily fluid samples from patients
• Prepare samples for routine testing and analysis
• Properly record results for further analysis and easy reference
• Monitor inventory samples and supplies
• Maintain a clean work environment

Qualifications:

• You must have experience as a Medical Technologist (ASCP Certificate that is CURRENT is a plus!)
• BS in Biology or Chemistry is also helpful
• Familiarity with common medical terminology
• Experience in a laboratory setting
• Strong organizational skills

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $18-$22 per hour

Medical Technologist

Requirements:

• ***MUST HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH MANUAL EXTRACTION PROCESSES***
• Has earned a bachelor’s degree in a chemical, physical or biological science or medical technology from an accredited institution
• Has at least 2 years of current laboratory experience, in moderate complexity testing (Chemistry, Hematology, Urinalysis)
• Has 2 years of laboratory training or experience in high complexity testing (Allergy and/or Molecular)

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $24-$28/hr

All positions located in Greenville, SC. Please email: HR@DIVMEDINC.COM to apply.

“As a laboratory, reliability and consistency is key,” said Kevin Murdock, Founder and CEO of PMLS. “We pride ourselves on being able to deliver accurate results as quickly as possible with every sample we receive. We’ve built an infrastructure that allows us to process large numbers of tests rapidly so that we can truly make a meaningful impact. We look forward to working with the state of North Carolina to help keep their state departments and their economy healthy.”

Throughout the pandemic PMLS has served as the choice processing lab for Health and Human Services testing sites and the trusted COVID-19 management partner for professional sports teams, schools, colleges, large corporations, and health departments spanning from coast to coast. Along with their high capacity and fast turnaround times, PMLS is part of a house of brands under Diversified Medical Healthcare which manufactures testing supplies, develops medical data management software, and provides PPE to seamlessly meet the needs of these organizations without delay or disruption.

With a comprehensive approach to providing solutions, PMLS has also implemented one of the largest variant surveillance initiatives in the country, tracking novel variants like Omicron and Delta. They have the capability to perform next generation sequencing on up to 42,000 specimens per week to provide critical data for a better understanding of the virus and how it’s mutating over time.

Premier Medical Laboratory Services (PMLS), headquartered in Greenville, SC, reports their findings that the Omicron variant is now confirmed to be present in the Upstate. The laboratory has been surveilling for Omicron and other novel variants through Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) in partnership with the Clemson University Bioengineering Department. Clemson University REDDI Lab has collected samples from throughout the upstate community and was funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to then have these specimens undergo NGS at PMLS. NGS is the process of decoding the genetic make-up of the virus to track how it is mutating and spreading throughout the population.

“As a proactive and solutions-driven company, we implemented Next Generation Sequencing to meet the needs of our population with preparedness for novel variants like Omicron,” said Kevin Murdock, CEO and Founder of Premier Medical Laboratory Services. “Through partnerships like ours with Clemson University, we are happy to increase the amount of data for South Carolina and the entire nation which is vital for vaccine efficacy and our understanding of the virus.”

Knowing the importance of accumulating data in the continued fight against the pandemic, PMLS implemented one of the largest sequencing initiatives among any lab in the nation – with the capability to sequence up to 42,000 samples per week. Many labs that are conducting COVID-19 testing have not developed the capabilities to conduct sequencing, and new variants cannot be fully identified via COVID-19 diagnostic testing methods alone. PMLS will continue working to uncover any further novel variants and mutations that COVID-19 presents and notify health officials.

To learn more about our findings and partnership with Clemson University read MSN’s article.

Other ways PMLS has helped to meet demands during the pandemic:

• Processing lab for Human Health Services surge sites and several state health departments 
• Blue Cross Blue Shield preferred COVID-19 testing lab in several states
• Reached one of the highest testing capacities in the nation with the capability to process over 300,000 tests per day
• Developed medical data management software that communicates directly from laboratory equipment for faster HIPAA compliant delivery of data to healthcare providers and patients
• Shifted production to add in-house manufacturing of COVID-19 testing kits
• Donated thousands of COVID-19 tests to children’s diabetes summer camps throughout the nation
• Donated hundreds of thousands of masks to local law enforcement, paramedics, fire departments, hospitals, and the Shriners organization and has provided free testing to first responders during the pandemic

The President’s requirements would apply to more than 130,000 businesses across the U.S. and would affect about 80 million workers nationwide. The mandate could result in 12 million people, or more than 3% of the total population, getting vaccinated by March, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs, and could bring the rate of partial vaccination among the total American population up to 82% by mid-2022, the analysts found. They also noted that about 90% of adults would have at least one dose of a vaccine. 

Vaccination rates against COVID-19 in the U.S. have risen by more than 20 percentage points after multiple institutions adopted vaccine requirements in recent months, the Biden Administration reported. However, many American workers are still hesitant about getting their COVID-19 shots. Meaning, the mandate’s testing option will likely put a large strain on the nation’s testing infrastructure as increased demand is expected. Taking this into account, PMLS is prepared with one of the largest testing capacities in the nation and in-house manufacturing for unlimited testing supplies. 

“When other laboratories scaled back during the lull in cases over the summer due to a drop in testing demand, we did not,” said Kevin Murdock, CEO and Founder of PMLS. “We kept building up our capabilities as a laboratory to be prepared for another surge like the one we are facing now. For this reason, we are prepared to handle exponentially more than most laboratories throughout the country.” 

PMLS’s automated workflow with state-of-the-art laboratory equipment has enabled them to process up to 300,000 COVID tests per day with 98% of results provided in under 24 hours. Their team of leading Ph.D. scientists has been instrumental in the nation’s COVID-19 response. Because of this, PMLS is the trusted testing partner for professional sports teams, schools and colleges, large corporations, and state health departments throughout the nation. 

With their advanced infrastructure in place, PMLS’s Keep America Thriving program is specifically designed for manufacturing companies, distribution and fulfillment centers, large-scale retail, construction, and organizations with large, in-office employee operations. Keep America Thriving offers the following to these entities: 

• A turnkey customized onsite testing program for continual supply of test kits for fast, accurate results 
• Onsite training and consulting for proper testing methods and customized strategy for most effective testing measures 
• Rapid antigen tests 
• PCR tests which can be stocked onsite 
  • Companies would be charged upon use and supply would replenish automatically 
  • No medical professional is required to administer these FDA authorized tests 

Diversified Medical Healthcare (DMH), a holding company with four subsidiary healthcare companies, Premier Medical Laboratory Services (PMLS), CPT Medical, OnGen, and Vessel Medical, has provided leading-edge solutions to combat COVID-19 nationally, addressing supply chain gaps and infrastructure restrictions caused by the virus. Their molecular diagnostics laboratory, PMLS, became the first lab in South Carolina validated as an independent COVID-19 testing lab one year ago. Just as PMLS achieved this validation for testing shortly after the first case was reported in the US, they continue to meet demands caused by COVID-19 as they arise with their laboratory staff of over 360 employees and in-house research and development team of Ph.D. scientists. Along with large scale testing via state of the art automated lab equipment, DMH companies developed advanced software for most efficient data management, distributed customized PPE supply kits, and manufactured COVID-19 testing kits as well as viral transport medium that properly preserves specimens during transit. 

“Since COVID-19 became a threat to our nation, we quickly streamlined our workflow, hired employees, validated various coronavirus assays, and purchased the equipment needed to test a large volume of specimens with the highest quality standards,” said Kevin Murdock founder of Diversified Medical Healthcare. “With our laboratory having one of the highest testing capacities in the nation, an in-house medical manufacturing firm, a lab equipment company, and data management software company, we feel that it’s imperative to do our part to help keep the country open and our citizens safe.”

At this one year mark, PMLS has processed over one million (1,000,000) tests to determine COVID-19 results for patients nationwide. With their highly advanced laboratory information management system (LIMS) created by OnGen, data is communicated directly from high throughput laboratory equipment for fast, accurate storage and delivery of data to healthcare providers and patients. Many of PMLS’ lab processes are automated to allow them a testing capacity of 300,000 tests per day. With this scalability, PMLS has enabled other laboratories and testing sites to increase their testing capacity and turnaround of results with Virtual Lab. An innovative COVID-19 testing solution to overcome laboratory infrastructure restrictions, Virtual Lab allows these facilities to utilize PMLS’ fully-automated robotic workflow and team of 360 employees to largely increase their testing capacity and efficiency while bypassing the need to purchase new equipment or endure waiting time of weeks or more for shipping, installation, and validation. Along with helping other labs, hospital systems and large organizations to test more patients, Diversified Medical Healthcare has donated hundreds of thousands of masks to local law enforcement, paramedics, fire departments, hospitals, and the Shriners organization and has provided free testing to first responders during the pandemic.

As another means to aid laboratories, healthcare systems, and large organizations in the expansion of their COVID-19 testing, Vessel Medical offers Lab in a Box, turnkey lab equipment that comes with everything needed for professional laboratory level diagnostics for COVID-19, Flu A and B, upper respiratory, STD/UTI, cancer risk screening, pharmacogenomics, and antibiotic resistance testing. Developed by leading scientists and technicians in partnership with Hamilton Company, Thermo Fisher, and Grenova, Lab in a Box enables a high capacity of onsite diagnostics for hospitals, expanding laboratories, schools, and large companies in need of quick and accurate testing results. With precision robotic instruments, lab in a box includes high throughput liquid handling along with automated, custom-programmable pipetting that decreases human error and result turnaround time.

Another DMH company, CPT Medical, shifted their production of surgical supplies to include manufacturing of COVID-19 testing kits since the beginning of the pandemic. CPT Medical is now capable of manufacturing 60,000 test kits per day and works in conjunction with PMLS to offer customizable testing to large organizations. Some of the large organizations that PMLS has partnered with as the official COVID-19 testing lab are the United Soccer League (USL) and Division I/Division II teams in 7 collegiate conferences as well as large schools and business organizations across the US. PMLS is also the processing lab for Human Health Services surge sites and state health departments in South Carolina, Arizona, Utah, and North Carolina and is the Blue Cross Blue Shield preferred COVID-19 testing lab in Texas, South Carolina, and North Carolina. Through all of these partnerships, PMLS has continued in their reputation of delivering the most advanced testing with rapid, reliable results, and diligent customer care.

Now, as vaccines are administered and restrictions on social distancing are being lifted, PMLS is conducting a critical large scale genomic sequencing for the surveillance of new COVID-19 variants, taking proactive measures so that a future surge of a mutated Sars CoV-2 strain is less likely to occur. The data collected from genomic sequencing can help pharmaceutical companies to stay ahead of the variants and make any changes needed to the current vaccines and treatments for higher efficacy and best patient outcomes. With PMLS’ high throughput genomic sequencers and library prep instruments that automate the library prep and sequencing process, a much higher capacity for genomic sequencing is achieved and margins of human error are drastically reduced. By sequencing an exponentially higher amount of specimens, PMLS is better equipped to provide meaningful analysis with larger amounts of data and faster turnaround times for the effective surveillance of SARS-CoV-2. PMLS is in discussions with the CDC and multiple states across the nation to provide COVID sequencing services at ports of entry and local and regional hotspots.  Along with this and their previous accomplishments, more groundbreaking COVID-19 solutions by Diversified Medical Healthcare are soon to be announced.

PMLS is an award-winning laboratory focused on delivering clinically meaningful results for better patient outcomes. As an industry leader in molecular diagnostics, PMLS is fully certified by top laboratory accrediting organizations, including CLIA and COLA. PMLS prides itself on having some of the most rapid turnaround times for testing results in the industry. The group continues to move the medical industry forward with the latest in science and technology and is committed to helping clients meet the highest standards in patient care.

“We are thrilled to bring on PMLS as our Official Health and Wellness Testing Supplier,” said Josh Keller, USL Sr. Vice President of Corporate Development & Partnerships. “The health and safety of everyone in our USL ecosystem is our top priority as a league. Having PMLS onboard to provide reliable testing helps us ensure we are operating in the safest environment possible as we return to play for the 2021 season.”

“Just as PMLS is improving healthcare through advanced molecular diagnostics, USL is cultivating talent and improving the game of soccer throughout our nation,” said Kevin Murdock, founder of Premier Medical Laboratory Services. “We look forward to supporting the health of the league and keeping their athletes on the field with fast, accurate COVID-19 testing they can count on. It’s an honor to partner with them.”

Premier Medical Laboratory Services (PMLS), an award winning molecular diagnostics laboratory, introduces Virtual Lab, an innovative COVID-19 testing solution to overcome laboratory infrastructure restrictions. As many laboratories face an insurmountable influx of testing demands, Virtual Lab allows these facilities to vastly increase their testing capacity and efficiency while bypassing the need to purchase new equipment or endure waiting time of weeks or more for shipping, installation, and validation. Testing facilities can now rent PMLS’ fully-automated robotic workflow and team of 360 employees, including Ph.D. scientists, working 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. While utilizing PMLS’ testing capacity of 300,000 tests per day, 92% of testing results are provided in under 24 hours with Virtual Lab.

“Since COVID-19 became a threat to our nation, we quickly streamlined our workflow, hired employees, validated various coronavirus assays, and purchased the equipment needed to test a large volume of specimens with the highest quality standards,” said Kevin Murdock founder of Premier Medical Laboratory Services. “Our goal as a laboratory with one of the highest testing capacities in the nation is to do our part to help keep the country open. Virtual Lab is one of ways that we can help other labs provide more critical testing without their having to take the time consuming measures we already have since the beginning of this pandemic.” 

Virtual Lab comes with five different collection devices for the accessioning of various specimen types, including saliva samples, to fit any facility’s testing needs. Using a proprietary laboratory information system (LIS) with modules that automate quality control, scheduling, testing and billing, Virtual Lab reduces result interpretation time. The LIS integrates seamlessly with any electronic medical record system (EMR) that hospitals and physicians’ offices currently use and is fully HIPAA compliant. Also with Virtual Lab comes a secure online portal to make results easily accessible and to provide statistical reports for data analysis. 

Premier Medical Laboratory Services invites all laboratories to use Virtual Lab to quickly and efficiently provide expanded testing capacity with reduced turnaround time of results. 

Virtual Lab Includes a Gold Standard SARS-CoV-2 Test

• Limit of detection (LoD) meets the standard level of sensitivity for SARS-CoV-2 testing with a false positive rate of occurrence <1% as determined by a third party validation
  • LoD 40 copies/uL
• Third party validation studies determined that the specificity of our assay exceeds the requirement of at least 95%
  • >98% Specificity 
• The accuracy of our assay exceeds the requirement of at least 95% concordance as determined through a third party correlation study
  • >97% Accuracy

For more information or to begin providing expanded testing capacity with Virtual Lab today, visit www.YourVirtualLab.com or contact virtualLab@premedinc.com.