With nasal swabs for COVID-19 tests in high demand, Sparrow is 3D printing its own

DELHI TWP. – Layer after layer, a 3D printer at Sparrow Laboratories creates nasal swabs for COVID-19 tests one millimeter at a time. 

Over the course of about four hours, the printer will produce 410 plastic swabs, Dan Krawczynski explained while showing reporters swabs that were fresh off the printer. 

After three alcohol baths to rinse off resin, some time to dry, a brief curing process to solidify and some quality control, the swabs are ready to use. 

Krawczynski, lead technical assistant at Sparrow's Center for Laboratory Medicine on Patient Care Drive, said even though the swabs are plastic with a hexagonal design at the end to catch samples of cells and fluids, they feel about the same as a cotton swab. 

If the 3D printer is running around the clock, the lab can make about 2,400 swabs in a day, Krawczynski said. 

The health system uses anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 nasal swabs a day for COVID-19 tests, according to Dr. James Richard, who heads Sparrow Laboratories. 

The 3D-printed swabs are a "stop-gap measure," Richard said. At the moment, Sparrow is primarily using swabs from other sources. 

There have been times during the pandemic when it's been difficult or impossible to get swabs, Richard said. 

At one point, he said, swabs went from 50 cents to $5 a piece. 

The supply chain is working well now, Richard said, but by printing swabs, Sparrow has a backup plan if a shipment is late or the supply of swabs drastically decreases. 

"Then we’re able to still stay in operation," he said. 

The swabs printed in the last few weeks are being evaluated and tested to make sure they turn out valid results, Richard said. 

Sparrow also is using the printer to make pipette tips, which have been in high demand for COVID-19 testing and are crucial for several other kinds of lab tests, Richard said. 

Throughout the pandemic, Sparrow's labs have had to be creative in tackling issues with supply and demand, Richard said.

They've taken several steps along the way to make sure there's enough testing available for the community, he said, from using five different testing options to opening a drive-thru site at the former Sears Auto Center to using technology from other areas of medicine that decreases the number of pipettes they're using. 

It's been "just one thing after another" since the pandemic began, he said. 

Every day, a team looks at stats, materials and other information to decide the best use of resources, knowing that "tomorrow it's going to be different," Richard said. 

Contact reporter Megan Banta at mbanta@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @MeganBanta_1.