Planning For The Next Pandemic: Lab Systems Need Policy Shift To Speed Emerging Infectious Disease Warning And Tracking

Early detection and ongoing monitoring of infectious diseases depends on diagnostic testing. The US has a large, diverse system of public, academic, and private laboratories that develop new diagnostic tests; perform routine testing; and conduct specialized reference testing, such as genomic sequencing. These laboratories operate under a complex mix of laws and regulations at the federal, state, and local levels. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed major weaknesses in the nation’s laboratory system, some of which were seen again during the global mpox outbreak in 2022. In this article we review how the US laboratory system has been designed to detect and monitor emerging infections, describe what gaps were revealed during COVID-19, and propose specific steps that policy makers can take both to strengthen the current system and to prepare the US for the next pandemic.