SHIELD T3 opens new COVID-testing lab in Texas

 CHICAGO, April 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Shield T3, the University of Illinois System's national COVID-testing unit, has opened a new COVID-19 testing facility in Hurst, Tex., a suburb of Dallas, to handle COVID-19 testing, both of human saliva and wastewater.

This will enable Shield T3 to speed up test results for customers in the surrounding communities and neighboring states. The new Shield T3 lab is capable of processing more than 50,000 gold-standard, PCR saliva tests per week in addition to wastewater surveillance.

Shield T3 is providing wastewater testing services to multiple state and higher-education organizations.

"The playbook for living with COVID now and forever starts with wastewater surveillance – because it's the earliest warning system we have for new variants," said Shield T3 CEO David Clark. "The wastewater at large senior living facilities, airports and other large venues are good places to test."

According to Bloomberg, the nation's wastewater network that monitors for COVID-19 is indicating that cases again are on the rise in many parts of the country.

People with the virus shed it in their biological waste. Wastewater often detects  an outbreak days before symptoms arise, which becomes an early warning signal for public health departments and hospitals. Samples are collected from sewer manholes or wastewater treatment facilities.

Shield T3, a for-profit organization founded by the University of Illinois System, is providing more than 1 million tests per quarter in the United States.

About covidSHIELD
Pioneered by researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, covidSHIELD is a comprehensive solution to curb and control the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. The covidSHIELD testing process is currently in use at schools, universities, community colleges, government entities, and companies throughout the United States.

SOURCE Shield T3