Assured Bio Labs Receives AIHA Accreditation for COVID-19 Environmental Testing

An environmental microbiology lab in Oak Ridge is the first U.S. lab to receive accreditation for surface and air analysis of the virus that causes COVID-19.  

Assured Bio Labs, LLC, was granted accreditation for testing COVID-19 environmental air and surfaces for SARS-CoV-2 by AIHA's Laboratory Accreditation Program.  Accreditation ensures the quality of laboratory analysis. AIHA announced the accreditation June 25th in a tweet.

As businesses bring employees back to work, COVID-19 data for touchpoints and air are essential to protect workers and the public.

"Since March, we have been running samples for local municipalities and for New York City essential businesses in the financial district," explained Dr. Edward A. Sobek, President of Assured Bio Labs, LLC. In April, the lab began providing COVID-19 surface and air testing to healthcare facilities in the northeast as they convert COVID-19 patient rooms into standard rooms.

"We were detecting COVID in the air and surfaces both in and outside of patient rooms," Sobek said. "We also recently started testing long-term care facilities to provide management with data needed to protect our most vulnerable group of Americans."

When asked his thoughts on controlling the spread of COVID-19 in buildings, Sobek said, "Engineering solutions focused on air circulation, coupled with knowledge of viral loads in the air and on surfaces, are required to confront that problem. Stagnate air plus COVID is a significant risk to occupants." Assured Bio's web site recently added COVID counts from its positive air and surface samples.

"I am extremely proud of the quantification technique Team Assured Bio developed for COVID.  Our technology counts the virus concentration in a sample," explained Sobek. "Other labs only report positive or negative results. Our professional clients require viral counts to implement the proper control measures. Quantification also reduces false negative and false positive reporting."