Washington state receives thousands of coronavirus test kits, face masks from feds
The federal government has provided 8,000 COVID-19 testing kits and more medical supplies to Washington, state officials announced Thursday.
Washington has grappled with a “significant” lack of resources to continue testing for the virus and protect medical staff from exposure, the Washington State Department of Health said in a statement.
The state DOH will distribute the new supplies to health agencies in Snohomish, King and Pierce counties, where the virus has hit the hardest. Of the state’s 1,376 cases, 1,116 have been in the tri-county area.
The testing kits are intended for high-risk populations, including those over the age of 60, those with pre-existing conditions, and health care providers and first responders.
The state DOH has received two orders of medical supplies from the national stockpile. A total of 426,690 N-95 respirators, or face masks for airborne injections, and 662,103 surgical masks, those to protect against larger droplets, have been provided.
Statewide testing
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its guidance to recommend testing only one sample per person, increasing the rate of testing.
The state lab has added more testing equipment, also increasing testing capacity. The lab can now test more than 200 samples a day, according to the state’s Joint Information Center at Camp Murray.
Much of the testing has been done at The University of Washington Virology Lab, where they are at capacity of 2,000 tests a day.
More private labs, like Quest and LabCorps, are being equipped to help test for the virus as well. As of Thursday, more than 20,700 individuals have been tested.
“Even with these new federal resources, limited testing supplies continue to be a significant issue for the COVID-19 response,” according to a news release from the Joint Information Center.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 5:25 PM.
