KC-area company already has a coronavirus testing device — for the air

Image caption – The coronavirus outbreak is keeping a Drexel company busy: It has doubled its business in the past two months. Getty Images. Article by Leslie Collins.

As the U.S. faces a shortage of coronavirus testing kits, one local company has a solution: Its system can analyze the air near people and deliver results in about an hour, compared with four days for the typical test.

“That’s the length of time that people could be shedding the virus before they get sick enough to know something’s wrong,” InnovaPrep CEO and co-founder Dave Alburty said. “The ability to use the rapid technology that’s available now is kind of our secret weapon in this fight with pathogens like the coronavirus. … From a pandemic protection standpoint, this is (InnovaPrep’s) first chance to help.” The Drexel-based biotech hardware manufacturer already has system components kits to China’s equivalent to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. InnovaPrep’s distributors also have sold them in South Korea and the Netherlands. The system could be used in public places, including hospitals, cruise ships, airports, schools and anywhere else where people concentrate in a small area, he said. “We want to know if the air they’re breathing is infectious,” Alburty said. […]

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