New Castle, DE – New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer will propose to New Castle County Council a $5 million dollar CARES Act investment in Delaware State University’s COVID-19 testing lab capabilities.
The critical investment in the lab, which will be located at DSU’s Kirkwood Highway Campus, will establish a high-throughput diagnostic facility for inexpensive COVID-19 testing in the short-term. The lab’s capabilities can later be adapted to conduct a host of different diagnostic testing for vendors such as Christiana Care, New Castle County, and others in the long-term.
The new lab will also create 6-10 biosciences jobs now and in the future. The lab will begin processing COVID-19 tests next month, and full ramp-up is expected to take between 12-15 months.
“We work every day to increase COVID-19 testing capacity, to process tests more efficiently, to get a better deal for taxpayers and to enhance the capabilities of local universities,” said County Executive Meyer. “We formed this partnership to address all four of those goals.”
"The potential of this partnership cannot be overstated" said Tony Allen. "A sequencing center allows us to provide reliable, frequent COVID testing at a time when it could not be more important. It also opens enormous opportunities for us in helping battle other infectious diseases. To have the center at our Kirkwood Highway Campus is indicative of our strong relationship with New Castle County and deepens our commitment to being Delaware’s State University."