Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, labs have been tackling compliance issues regarding the reporting of COVID-19 test data to their respective public health departments. In turn, the public health departments have been dealing with the best way to process large amounts of data received from these labs. News outlets like the New York Times and Science cite common problems in this reporting process, such as incompatibilities between reporting systems, outdated technology, and an overload of manual data entry. All of these factors contribute to the backlog of COVID-19 test data reporting in states like California, where public health agencies are trying to keep pace with the rapid influx of data received from these commercial laboratories.
To help streamline the configuration and uploading of COVID-19 test data to the CalREDIE system, Zymo Research developed the Zymo Research Transmit Program (ZRTP) that eliminates manual submission errors and other frequent errors by connecting California clinical laboratories directly to the CalREDIE Information Exchange. This direct connection eliminates manual data entry that is commonly required at state and county health departments. The ZRTP further simplifies the reporting process in that labs no longer have to submit test data to both their state and county public health departments. The CalREDIE System automatically distributes COVID-19 test data to the appropriate local public health authorities.