Georgia deploys 3D printers, Guard units in testing scramble

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Seeing a chance to help amid a shortage of kits to test people for the coronavirus, Dr. Jeffrey James dedicated a 3D printer at the dental college where he teaches to churning out nasal swabs at a rate of 300 per day.

Then Georgia officials working with Gov. Brian Kemp heard about the project. They asked James if he could crank up swab production even more — to 5,000 daily.

“I said yes," James recalled, “then I left the meeting and had a panic attack.”

Now seven printers with names like Mighty Mouse and Sonic 1 and 2 hum constantly in a room on the third floor of Augusta University's dental school. Volunteering dental residents, endodontists, orthodontists and oral surgeons rotate between two daily 12-hour shifts, even on weekends, to meet the demand.

The production push is one way Georgia is scrambling to catch up on COVID-19 testing after the Republican governor lifted shelter-at-home orders for most people and allowed hair salons, gyms, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys to reopen and restaurants to resume dine-in service.

The Trump administration's plans for emerging from lockdowns imposed to slow the virus have largely left individual states on their own when it comes to supplying themselves with test kits and finding workers and sites to administer those tests. Georgia lagged behind most U.S. states in testing even as Kemp moved aggressively to ease restrictions and restart the economy.

Public health experts say expanded testing is critical to keeping watch for a resurgence of infections as states begin reopening. What's lacking, both at the federal and state level, is a clear and coordinated long-term strategy, said Dr. Harry J. Heiman, a professor of public health at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

“You don’t manage a...