Behind the scenes at a COVID-19 testing lab

PHOENIX - Paradigm Labs used to test for all sorts of medical ailments, but changed their focus when the pandemic came along.

"We just wound up pivoting when the pandemic came up," said Ethan Sasz, CEO and owner of the company.

Sasz gave FOX 10 a look at how they test for COVID-19. It all starts at the testing sites, which Paradigm Labs also owns.

"We saw the need in some of the counties to actually set up some test sites because the municipalities didn't really have the manpower -- nor the expertise to set up testing," Sasz said.

Once the swab arrives at the lab, technicians immediately get to work.

"They actually go into our extraction lab and they are actully pipetted out those tubes and into smaller trays -- those trays are then put onto an extraction device," Sasz said. "Its about a 2-hour process and it pulls the RNA out of that liquid."

Each sample is then put onto a plate and into a computer that tests the sample to see if they are negative or positive.

"Each one of these plates runs about 370 patients, so in this lab in Phoenix here, we're currently running about 10,000 tests a day with a 24-hour turn around time -- we have capacity to run 30,000 a day," said Sasz.

Paradigm is still opening more testing facilities across the state.

More on Paradigm Labs: https://paradigmlaboratories.com/

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