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North Texas labs help process thousands of COVID-19 tests per day

Dallas County Health & Human Services is partnering with three diagnostic labs, including GeneIQ, to administer daily COVID-19 tests results.

THE COLONY, Texas — COVID-19 testing sites remain open and staffed across North Texas, as testing continues to be in-demand.

As the public continues seeking out testing locations, some labs are busy behind the scenes.

Dr. Tariq Adwan's lab is one of those. Adwan is the chief scientific officer for GeneIQ. Thee labs are busy processing samples and delivering daily COVID test results.

“We’ve seen the case volume for tests dramatically increase over the past month or so,” Adwan explained.

GeneIQ is among a group of labs partnering with Dallas County Health and Human Services to process COVID-19 tests.

“Once samples are collected, it gets transported to the lab,” Adwan explained during a tour of the GeneIQ facility.

In the "wet" lab, technicians are administering thousands of COVID-19 tests per day, in addition to a variety of other diagnostic tests. It’s a careful process that includes extracting samples from nasal swabs.

“This is the PCR test, so we put a bunch of primers and probes that are designed to specifically detect COVID-19 RNA or COVID-19 virus,” Dr. Adwan explained.

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The extractions are taken a step further. They’re added to another instrument where multiple reactions have to take place over the course of an hour.

“It is an extremely sensitive process,” Adwan said.

The lab techs then analyze the data to help determine whether each sample is positive or negative for COVID-19. It takes about 24 to 48 hours to deliver the PCR test results.

Dallas County Health And Human Services continues urging the public to stay vigilant.

“We’re not done with this pandemic,” said Christian Grisales, the spokesman for DCHHS. 

“We are still in the red zone, and that’s why we want people to continue in getting vaccinated and boosted.”

For more information about COVID-19 testing sites in Dallas County, you can visit the health section on Dallas County website.

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