Coast Diagnostics Growing to Meet Needs of COVID-19 Rapid Testing

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Leitha Boutwell, COO of Coast Diagnostics in Mobile, AL, reviews COVID-19 testing equipment with US Senate Candidate Tommy Tuberville while Coast CEO Brian Ward looks on. (Photo: Business Wire)

Coast Diagnostics, a full-service reference lab at 4674 Airport Boulevard in Mobile, has grown from a quiet, local lab with four employees to a 7,000 square foot regional cog in the testing process of the battle against COVID-19.

CEO Brian Ward says, “Coast is proud to be rooted in the Gulf Coast community and provides testing for local hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and businesses.” The growth in capacity has caught the attention of a lot of area decision makers including U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville.

“Coast Diagnostics is a full-service reference lab that offers hematology, chemistry, genetics and other forms of medical testing,” Ward explained. “We recognized that coast residents were waiting up to a week or more to get COVID-19 test results, so we ramped up and opened our new facility on Airport Boulevard and are delivering rapid test results in 24 to 48 hours.

“We want to serve the local community that we are a part of. National labs are driven by profits and they do not understand the lab needs of the Gulf Coast community like we do. We built our new facility quickly when the surge hit. We had to increase capacity and keep results under 48 hours so we could help ease the pressure on other labs and get results out into our community. This is about producing results with speed and accuracy.”

The new state-of-the-art facility has enabled Coast Diagnostics to greatly increase its daily workload of tests and increase its staff from 4 to more than 50 employees. Tuberville stopped by to tour the facility on a campaign swing through Mobile recently and was very impressed with what he saw.

“It’s capitalism at its best,” Tuberville said. “We’re a country that’s self-sufficient and should be. We struggled a little bit early in this pandemic because we’ve dropped our guard over the last 10 years with our equipment and ability to fight an unseen enemy. Coast Diagnostics has done a good job of starting from scratch and building and getting to the point now where they can do over 4,000 tests per day.”

Coast Diagnostics performs testing for local, regional and national hospitals, physician practices, nursing homes, and businesses and offers the most accurate test on the market, the PCR test. Area residents can come to the lab with appointments and be rapid tested for COVID-19 and antibodies without leaving their vehicle. Appointments can be made by calling 251-459-8405.

Ward explained that “much of the on-site rapid testing is done for businesses testing their employees and employees who have tested positive and looking to go back to work.”

Existing Coast Diagnostics clients may order test kits through their normal online channels. Prospective customers can contact Coast by phone at (251) 459-8405 or establish a new client relationship through https://coastdiagnostics.com/contact link at www.coastdiagnostics.com. All testing is done on site in Coast’s lab and not outsourced to other labs.

To learn more, visit www.coastdiagnostics.com or stay up to date with Coast Diagnostics on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200813005768/en/