A look inside the El Paso lab responsible for processing your Covid-19 tests
EL PASO, Texas — A lab in south-central El Paso is responsible for processing all of the Covid-19 tests that are administered at four city-run testing locations.
Exova Diagnostics opened its doors on the third floor of the Caldwell Collaborative building in February of this year. Since then they have been receiving about 4,500 Covid-19 tests per day from testing locations around the nation and processing the results in a quick manner.
Mohamed Elbaz, the director of the lab operations offices, says it takes about 11 hours from when they receive a test to when they have results. Elbaz credits the lab’s high throughput liquid handling technology for the quick turnaround. Instead of humans preparing the tests, machines are doing all the work, and they are doing it fast. Elbaz says their lab can prepare about 1,200 tests per hour.
Blake Anderson, the CEO of Exova Diagnostics and a native El Pasoan, says this volume is essential in a pandemic.
“The quicker that that healthcare provider or that patient receives their information, they’re able to make follow-along treatment plans and act accordingly,” Anderson explained.
The lab has clients all over the nation, but the majority of its Covid-19 tests come from El Paso. Anderson says the lab has processed over 100,000 tests from El Paso testing sites this year. At the start of the year, their tests only checked for the presence of Covid-19, but in the past few months, their testing panel now checks for influenza-A and influenza-B. This testing panel clears up a lot of confusion since the coronavirus and influenza have similar symptoms.
“Is it Covid? Is it influenza? We need a clear answer,” Elbaz explained.
The new testing panel costs $140, but no one getting a test will ever see a bill. The lab charges insurance companies and will also get money from CARES act funding if there is no insurance available.
This lab works 24-hours a day for seven days a week. Its work will become very important soon because city officials say testing will increase after the holiday season.
