The city and county of Dallas will end their joint agreement with a Washington-based company that was hired to run a public coronavirus testing site after the turnaround time for results was taking nearly twice as long as before, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said late Monday.
Parkland Health & Hospital System will take over coordinating local testing, Jenkins announced on Twitter by sharing an article from The Dallas Morning News.
The newspaper reports the decision — confirmed by a spokesman for Mayor Eric Johnson — came after city and county officials began investigating Honu Management Group’s performance and how it won the $14 million contract when it began running a drive through testing site July 1 in Irving. The company won the contract after the county stopped using the federal government for testing because it was taking too long to get results.
Jenkins told The Dallas Morning News on Monday that an internal investigation by the Dallas County health department revealed samples collected at the Honu-run site was taking up to four days to reach a lab near Austin, delaying results up to seven days.
The change takes effect Aug. 28 at Dallas College Eastfield Campus in Mesquite, Jenkins said.
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