Dallas County will operate first lab in Texas to process coronavirus tests

DALLAS - Dallas County will operate the first lab in the state to process coronavirus tests.

County leaders call it a "quantum leap" in keeping the community safe.

Currently, all testing is done at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, which takes time.

But a quick turnaround could be key fighting the disease.

“To be able to move that from 72 hours, to less than 24 hours, is a quantum leap in keeping you safe,” Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said.

Several days is the CDC turnaround time to test for coronavirus.

But now, Dallas County will be able to test its own cases, which will drastically reduce the wait.

“That does not mean that we have the capacity to test everyone in Dallas, or even hundreds of people. What that means is we have the capability to test a few dozen people a day, which is more than enough to cover all the people currently under the CDC guidelines,” Jenkins explained.

County leaders said the lab will also provide testing for nearby counties.

Tarrant County said its lab expects to be able to test for coronavirus as soon as next week.

“It's a place where a hospital or doctor somewhere else can say, ‘I've got a person with flu-like symptoms that tested negative with the flu, and just traveled here from Iran, and we would say send the swab and test it.’ And we will get your information back,” Jenkins added.

Dallas County leaders said the sooner it's determined a patient has coronavirus, the sooner they're isolated and treated, and the quicker epidemiologists can locate those who came into contact with them.

The development is progress, but there was concern in Washington on Wednesday at a committee meeting on homeland security.

Former CDC Director Dr. Julie Gerberding spoke from experience about what could happen at state and local health departments.

“They will soon run out of laboratory time, space, and people to be able to do all of these tests. And they will need support from the federal government to scale their capabilities. They'll be working 24/7, literally,” she said.