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XpresSpa Pursues Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Screening and Testing at U.S. Airports
April 3, 2020
Forms New Business Unit XpresTest
In Discussions for Initial Testing with Three Major Airports
NEW YORK, April 03, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- XpresSpa Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: XSPA) (“XpresSpa” or the “Company”), today provided an
update on recent discussions with local airport authorities and healthcare partners so that it may begin providing screening and testing for novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) at U.S. airports. COVID-19 screening and testing would be conducted by converting select existing spa locations for this purpose on an interim basis and over time, potentially adding separate, standalone airport locations as testing sites.
XpresSpa’s U.S. airport real estate portfolio consists of 46 locations across 23 airports that are ready to be reactivated and redeployed in short order, subject to the approval of local airport authorities. The Company’s global spas are temporarily closed due to recent local government mandates categorizing its traditional services as “non-essential services”.
Since March 19, 2020, XpresSpa has been advancing discussions with healthcare partners to develop a model for COVID-19 screening and testing in U.S. airports as a much-needed public service. The Company has also recently filed paperwork in the State of Delaware to form a new business unit to administer such screening and testing capabilities, XpresTest, Inc., as a wholly-owned subsidiary of XpresSpa Group, Inc.
While nothing definitive has yet been finalized, XpresSpa is currently in discussions with three major airports, JFK International Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago O'Hare International Airport to pilot COVID-19 screening and testing for airline employees, contractors and workers, concessionaires and their employees, TSA agents, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
The Company is also in the process of recruiting a medical director who would work alongside healthcare officials to help design safe and compliant protocols and train employees.
Doug Satzman, Chief Executive Officer, XpresSpa said, “We are moving forward with our public and private relationships to make COVID-19
screening and testing in U.S. airports a reality and hopefully will be able to begin pilot testing shortly for the benefit and protection of our fellow citizens.
Since the onset of this pandemic, we have thought that we can and should play a significant role within the travel sector in the fight against COVID-19 and other highly contagious diseases in the future given our airport relationships, infrastructure, workforce with TSA clearance and strong desire to keep everyone safe.”
The Company recently announced its partnership with Relevant Healthcare. Relevant Healthcare is currently offering clinical diagnostic testing for COVID-19 through its contracts with Laboratory Corporation of America® (“LabCorp”) and Quest Diagnostics™ (“Quest”) to support full COVID-19 RT-PCR testing. In addition, the Company is also in active discussions with [Aytu BioScience (NASDAQ: AYTU; “Aytu”)], a specialty pharmaceutical company, and marketer of a COVID-19 IgG/IgM Rapid Test, and [Henry Schein Medical (“Henry Schein”)], the world’s largest distributor of health care solutions to office-based dental and medical professionals, and the developer of the Standard Q COVID-19 test, to deploy their respective rapid antibody blood testing solutions.
XpresSpa would also partner with Healthalytica, LLC (“Healthalytica”), a New York City-based provider of digital health and financial transparency solutions for health plans. Healthalytica would be charged with processing claims, insurance payments and distributing test result data to the appropriate local, state, and national authorities.
In developing its model for COVID-19 screening and testing at U.S. airports, XpresSpa is being assisted by Capstone Municipal Advisors LLC
(“Capstone”) who is serving as a project manager. Capstone is an Atlanta-based Minority Business Enterprise (“MBE”) that provides management consulting services and advice to state and local governments in the areas of municipal finance and infrastructure.
