I am a retired university professor. I have friends who do molecular biology and biochemistry. The RNA sequence of covid19 virus has been known for months now. The RT-PCR test to detect covid19 requires the sequences of sense and antisense primers specific for the virus (which have also been known for months) and routine RNA extraction and PCR reagents common to academic and industry labs doing RT-PCR. The test for the virus is well known and uses equipment and skills available in hundreds of biotech firms and laboratories across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. These tests could use the CDC sense and antisense primer sequences designed by the CDC.
At this time it would be illegal for an academic lab to provide test results that are accepted clinically. But they could use academic labs and biotech companies for a type of pre-testing, and if positive, then do a second test at an approved site. This would take a vast majority of the tests out of the jammed state labs.
There are acts that are legal, and acts that are moral. A half a century ago, thousands of Americans across the South risked their lives to demonstrate in favor of voting rights for African Americans. Once again, perhaps is time for peaceful civil disobedience. Perhaps it is time for loyal Americans with the right equipment and skill sets to act for diagnostic rights by testing the hundreds of thousands of Americans in need of their services. The danger to those Americans is, after all, far less than the danger to which civil rights demonstrators were exposed.