A new COVID-19 Walk-Up Testing Booth has been developed to protect medical professionals while allowing them to conduct testing without the need for constantly replacing personal protective equipment (PPE).
Garmat USA is a manufacturer of paint booths, serving auto collision repair and industrial refinishing customers. Garmat's new COVID-19 Walk-Up Testing Booth, developed by Garmat entrepreneur Johan Huwaert, enables a rapid and effective rollout of testing sites. This solution reduces the need for additional PPE and provides protection for the healthcare worker while providing a more efficient way to test masses of individuals.
“In the weeks and months ahead, both the number of tests and availability of testing sites will need to grow exponentially,” said Huwaert, “and protecting our medical providers against contamination is of the utmost importance. We believe that the size and convenience of our walk-up style testing booths would allow for testing outside hospitals, urgent care centers, pharmacies, airports, universities and major sporting venues.”
The Garmat testing booth addresses several shortcomings of current testing methods. In the medical office, when a patient is being tested for the COVID-19 virus, the medical provider must don PPE. The PPE must be changed after each patient, regardless of outcome of the test. While a few drive-through testing stations have been established, they are time-consuming and not viable for those without access to transportation.
“South Korea has used booths to test its citizens for COVID-19,” said Huwaert. “However, the difference is that the patients enter the booths for testing. Therefore, that design still requires a full disinfection process after each patient, which is a major drawback. This design alleviates this issue.”
Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston designed a three-sided plexiglass version, an improvement over the South Korea booth, as it placed the healthcare provider inside, minimizing the surface area and time required for disinfection. Garmat's latest innovation advances Brigham's version to provide additional protection for healthcare workers by fully enclosing the booth and applying positive airflow pressure, preventing contaminants including the virus, from entering the interior of the booth.
Garmat has ample production capacity in its Colorado manufacturing facility. The COVID-19 Walk-up Testing Booth is approved for direct government purchasing through Garmat’s GSA Contract. Cities, states, counties and all federal agencies are eligible for government pricing. The units can be shipped fully assembled on a standard pallet – install is as simple as placing the unit and plugging into a power source.
