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Mesquite dad, son say public COVID-19 test site slow to deliver results
A Mesquite father and son who were supposed to get their COVID-19 tests back in three days or less have not heard anything for more than five days.
MESQUITE, Texas - A Mesquite father and son who were supposed to get their COVID-19 tests back in three days or less have not heard anything for more than five days.
The tests were administered by the company hired by Dallas County and the city of Dallas to handle free drive-thru testing.
Cliff and Chris Cozby got tested at Eastfield College after Mrs. Cozby tested positive for COVID-19. Cliff was tested Aug. 4 and his son was tested twice on Aug. 6 and 8.
“It’s like a little miniature car wash,” said dad Cliff. “Under a tent you got cars going in four different lines so they're just bagging it and going back to another person, bagging it,” Cliff said.
Since the tests, the Cozbys have heard nothing.
“We're not able to go to work or anywhere,” Cliff said. “We're stuck at home until we hear something.”
Eastfield tests are administered by the vendor Honu, with Pro Lab out of Austin providing results on the test samples. Honu and Pro Lab carried out tests at University of Dallas before moving August 1 to the Eastfield location.
Honu is the company with a multi- million dollar contract to run free COVID-19 test sites in Dallas County.
County commissioners, partnering with the city to pay Honu, already expressed concerns about the contract and the accuracy of tests and time it takes to get results. Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson has called for an audit of that company.
Judge Clay Jenkins' office said as of the end of July, over 90 percent of individuals tested at the University of Dallas site had received their results in 72 hours or less.
After an inquiry from FOX4, Cliff says he got a call from the county.
“That they're on top of it, they're looking for our names in the system and they will let us know today, hopefully, what our results are,” Cliff said.