Coronavirus Outbreak: Sanford Health to help PGA Tour with COVID-19 testing beginning at Charles Schwab Challenge

As many as 400 tests each week with results have been made available in a matter of two to four hours by a mobile testing unit, which will travel with the events on the PGA Tour and is one of the major safety nets for golf that has been spread out as the sport prepares to resume this week at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas. The Sanford Health team, which will accompany each mobile testing unit will be one of the busiest groups each week for the next few months, as the PGA Tour takes on the COVID challenge while rebooting the Tour in Fort Worth, Texas. The Charles Schwab Challenge heralds the comeback of the PGA Tour after a 12-week hiatus due to COVID-19. Sanford Health, designated the ‘Official COVID-19 On-site Testing Provider’, has been a partner as a sponsor of the Sanford International on the PGA Tour Champions (Senior Tour). Now it has been engaged to conduct on-site COVID-19 testing of players, caddies and essential personnel on the PGA TOUR, the PGA TOUR Champions and Korn Ferry Tour in the continental United States. [caption id=“attachment_8458191” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  The Charles Schwab Challenge heralds the comeback of the PGA Tour after a 12-week hiatus due to COVID-19. Image Credit: Sanford Health/ PGA Tour[/caption] Each swab collection takes less than five minutes to administer and test results are returned typically between two and four hours, with approximately 400 individuals expected to be tested on-site each week. The testing will be conducted by lab technicians who will be travelling to tournaments in one of three mobile testing units that Sanford Health is deploying across the country. Each unit will be manned by a driver and three technicians and will arrive on Saturday prior to the tournament to begin processing RT PCR tests. The mobile unit will remain on-site through Thursday before travelling to the next closest tournament site, regardless of Tour. “With health and safety being our No 1 priority upon our return to competition, we are extremely pleased to partner with Sanford Health and to utilize their expertise in testing our players, caddies and personnel going forward,” said Andy Levinson, PGA TOUR Senior Vice President Tournament Administration. “Not only will Sanford Health’s mobile laboratories enable us to deliver test results in a matter of hours so that our athletes can properly prepare for competition, but they will also allow us to implement our testing program without utilizing critical resources from the communities in which we play, which was of utmost importance to us.” Click here to follow LIVE updates on coronavirus outbreak