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North Texas doctors await testing kits for the COVID-19 virus
A handful of labs are now offering the COVID-19 test, which will aid local healthcare workers in identifying patients infected with the coronavirus.
DALLAS - As the COVID-19 virus spreads, test kits will soon be in high demand.
A handful of labs are now offering the COVID-19 test, which will aid local healthcare workers in identifying patients infected with the coronavirus. It takes three to four days to get results and doctor's offices could have the testing supplies as soon as Monday.
“We've got a lot of patients who travel and they're worried about being exposed either in planes or hotels so we're getting a lot of calls right now,” said Dr. Jeff Goudreau.
Goudreau is a primary care physician with an office in Northeast Dallas and was happy to hear a test has been developed and is available to healthcare providers like him in private practice.
“Very useful when patients come in they want to know what they have whether strep or flu and now that coronavirus,” Goudreau said.
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Dr. Jon Cohen is the executive chairman of Bioreference, a company based New Jersey. It’s one of a handful of national labs now offering a COVID-19 test.
Cohen walked FOX4 through the collection process.
“This is what the swab the physician would put into the patient's nose or back of throat to acquire the sample specimen. We then take that swab, break it off, put it into a tube. The tube has fluid in it which collects off of the swab. The physician sends it to us,” Cohen said.
Cohen believes more testing will take place as availability grows. That means more people may be rushing to doctor's offices and urgent care clinics -- some symptomatic.
Goudreau said it's important to keep those folks out of the general waiting area, just in case they're infected with the coronavirus.
“We have a good triage system up front so if you have a fever or we know you're coming in this kind of situation we'll have you put on a mask, get you through the lab fairly quickly then send you home so we could call you with the results later on,” Goudreau said.