ABSTRACT
Introduction: The emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic, in late 2019 put every country on high alert and led to major changes in global diagnostic testing capability in infectious disease. From the outset it was apparent that local health authorities were under-prepared and under-staffed to cope with the rapid onset and spread of the disease. Demand for SAR-CoV-2 testing soared, highlighting the limitations of capacity in existing infectious disease laboratories along with requests from governments to support growing testing need. We partnered with US and UK Governments to establish, supply, staff and operate three large-scale, high-throughput SARS-CoV-2 testing facilities. These were ultimately established in Valencia, CA, offering testing of up to 150k samples per day, and in Loughborough and Newport, UK, offering a combined testing of up to 70k samples per day. The biggest challenge faced globally was the unprecedented scale of testing required and the timeframe to deliver a reliable and sensitive high-throughput assay. The benefits of industry and government partnerships become evident along with having a dedicated supply chain to feed the reagent and consumable needs for high-throughput testing as well as a highly accurate test with a fast turnaround time. Experts from multiple divisions, including R&D, Genomics, Enterprise, and regional centres were bought into the project, resulting in the establishment of SARS-CoV-2 testing within the three facilities in approximately eight weeks. Clinical testing experts in high-throughput, newborn screening, and rare disease testing, built molecular testing pipelines for the facilities based around the use of real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays and sequencing. Laboratories were setup to meet the requirements set by various regulatory and accreditation agencies such as Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, College of American Pathologies, the UK National Health Service validation group and ISO15189. Methods: Underpinning the testing was the massive IT and bioinformatics effort to enable reporting of the testing outcomes to the relevant authorities. We were able to deploy a novel LIMS system that is used throughout the laboratories to maintain sample chain of custody from arrival at the facility to reporting of results and incorporating interpretive software to support clinical interpretation of the resulting RT-PCR data. The LIMS systems are constantly undergoing improvement to support interpretation and troubleshooting. Local experts in clinical interpretation and reporting were onboarded to augment data analysis and ensure high-quality and reliable reporting whilst ensuring that clinical governance remains at the centre of all activities. Results: Before any SARS-CoV-2 testing was able to commence, several significant challenges were overcome by combining the expertise of our global teams with the local knowledge and support of the respective Governments. Experts in logistics and program management were able to convert three empty facilities with no pre-existing laboratory infrastructure into fully functional clinical testing laboratories within eight weeks. Our assay manufacturing capacity was majorly expanded to accommodate the requirements of SARS-CoV-2 testing, with all three facilities operating on automated platforms and utilizing chemistry with a dedicated secure supply chain. The final major challenge was rapid onboarding and training of staff for the facilities, and a year out, the two active facilities are currently employing over 600 individuals. Conclusion: To date the three facilities have performed over 12 million SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR assays and SARS-CoV-2 testing will continue into 2022. The number of cases is again growing globally, and with the emergence of new variants and continual uncertainty about the impact on existing vaccines, there is an ongoing requirement for this scale of testing. From the experience of the SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic, the benefits of industry and government collaboration or the public has become much clearer, including greater access to large-scale testing options, significant reductions in time-to-testing and reporting and the rapid deployment of modern, cutting edge technology in diagnostic and monitoring programmes and eventually reduced costs to health services from mass-production. Ultimately the longevity of the individual testing facilities is unclear, but the future of large-scale clinical testing has changed forever and the legacy of this is the clear benefit to everybody when industry and governments work together to provide the public high quality and reliable testing operations.
ABSTRACT
Exploring the challenges faced by agriculture teachers during the Spring 2020 semester brings to light the reality of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, understanding the challenges faced by teachers empowers the profession to make agricultural education more resilient to broader, social forces in the future. In this study, a national sample of agriculture teachers were asked to identify the three most pressing challenges they experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using qualitative research methods, eight challenge themes emerged: (a) Communication, (b) FFA (National FFA Organization, a student leadership organization previously named the "Future Farmers of America"), (c) Instructional Quality, (d) Program Facilities and Activities, (e) Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAE), (f) Student Motivation, (g) Technology and the Internet, and (h) Work-Life Balance. Using quasi-statistical methods, the most commonly reported challenges were identified - Instructional Quality, FFA, and Student Motivation. Analysis of all the challenges suggested permeation across each aspect of the three-component model of agricultural education. Furthermore, many challenges appeared to be related to each other. Finally, analysis of the results illuminated responding teachers, and their students, each experienced the challenges brought about by COVID-19 differently, including evidence of exacerbated educational inequality for students from lower income households.