Texas hospitals test for coronavirus with veterinary supplies repurposed by Texas A&M
A Stephenville hospital is testing patients for the coronavirus with lab supplies originally reserved for livestock.
Stephenville Medical and Surgical Clinic, the only facility offering drive-thru COVID-19 testing in Erath County, received 110 testing kits donated from Tarleton Sate University after the kits were put together by the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory in College Station.
The Texas A&M lab culled the supplies last week from its own stock and from its veterinary diagnostic labs in Amarillo, Center and Gonzales.
The drive-thru tests are by appointment only and for individuals with coronavirus symptoms. As of Tuesday evening, Erath County has reported 11 COVID-19 cases, including one death. Four patients live in Stephenville, two in Dublin, and five are in rural areas of the county, according to the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.
The supplies were culled from kits normally aimed at tracking disease outbreaks in animals, including pigs, cows and chickens.
“No one has ever done this before, but tough times call for creative measures,” Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp said.
The main lab in College Station started receiving supplies last week and quickly sent 2,000 repurposed kits back out to schools in the A&M system. Those schools, including Tarleton State, are donating them to local facilities across Texas.
“We know that the 2,000 we came up with may not seem like much when there are 20-plus million at-risk Texans who may need testing,” said the director of the Texas A&M veterinary lab Dr. Bruce Akey. “But if you need to be tested and you can’t because they don’t have this kit, then it’s a pretty big deal to you and your family. So we are doing what we can right now.”
“Our goal was to get these sampling kits in clinics or hospitals where they are most needed as soon as possible,” Akey said. “We pulled out all stops.”
This story was originally published April 9, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
