Providing mobile facilities to support real-time pandemic response and ongoing disease surveillance.

One of the greatest challenges for healthcare systems during the coronavirus pandemic has been the timely identification of COVID-19 patients. Obtaining a quick, reliable test result is critical to begin self-isolation at home or admit a patient to a specific area of the hospital. Baptist Hospital of Miami Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory at Miami Cancer Institute applied for and was granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the Food & Drug Administration to perform COVID-19 swab tests in-house. The test was developed at Miami Cancer Institute, which is part of Baptist Health.

As an added layer of safety, Germfree provided a laboratory trailer for the testing process, which resides behind the Miami Cancer Institute facility and contains ventilated air space and laminar flow hoods. The remainder of testing is performed in the building’s laboratory. The Germfree trailer, which was used as a pharmacy during Miami Cancer Institute’s construction, includes equipment like microbiology hoods that allow for molecular testing of COVID-19.

“Having this test allows us to expand our in-house testing capability, allowing us to make treatment decisions more quickly and quarantine patients appropriately,” said Edwin Gould, M.D., chief of pathology, Miami Cancer Institute. “We were fortunate to have all the highly sophisticated equipment and expertise needed already in-house – making the switch possible in a short time frame.” Miami Cancer Institute is one of 12 hospital laboratories across the country to receive this authorization. Others include Stanford Health Care, Northwestern Medicine, Yale New Haven Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

This facility was built using Germfree’s proven mobile biocontainment lab platform, click here to learn more about our Mobile Biocontainment Labs.