Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has announced that the state has hit its “moonshot” testing goal of having the capacity for 20,000 COVID-19 tests per day. It’s a feat that state leaders say will give a more accurate picture of how much of the population may be infected.
Walz called the testing goal, announced two months ago, incredibly ambitious.
“None of the structure had been created yet; none of the supply chains were functioning correctly because there was a lot of disruption globally and in the United States,” said Governor Walz in a June 29 press conference. “But it was a commitment by the University of Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic, other health systems, and the state of Minnesota to you create our own system to supply. that was independent of those supply chain breaks that would make that and make that case.”
To date, more than 600,000 COVID-19 tests have been completed in Minnesota.
Still, state leaders acknowledge that some Minnesotans haven’t been able to get a COVID-19 test, and health officials are advising health care providers to test asymptomatic patients who may have been exposed.
Here’s the state health commissioner Jan Malcolm.
“If you’re feeling ill; please get tested. If you are concerned about an exposure you might have had even if you don’t have some symptoms; please get tested. The CDC has fairly recently updated their guidance to encourage testing of asymptomatic people who have reason to believe they may have been exposed,” said state health commissioner Jan Malcolm.
Health officials warn that cases could go up with more and more people going out and interacting. A statewide mandatory mask policy is not out of the question, according to Walz.
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