Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) is weighing in with his take on the United States’ national testing strategy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
During an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Democratic governor discussed the testing problems residents are facing in his state as he noted the prolonged turnaround time on testing results.
According to Polis, waiting six to nine days makes testing “almost useless” when it comes to diagnosis and contact tracing.
“The national testing scene is a complete disgrace,“ Polis said on Sunday. “So, every test we send out to private lab partners nationally, Quest, Labcorp, seven days, eight days, nine days — maybe six days if we’re lucky. Almost useless from an epidemiological or even diagnostic perspective.”
Polis also offered weighed in on the testing capacity of private labs in his state as he noted that Colorado currently processes approximately 2,000 to 3,000 tests per day.
See Polis’ remarks below:
EARLIER: Gov. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) says the “national testing scene is a complete disgrace.” #MTP #IfItsSunday@GovofCO: “All the tests we send out to private lab partners nationally … [are] almost useless from a epidemiological or even diagnostic perspective.” pic.twitter.com/4M7ex5xyN9
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) July 19, 2020
However, he did note the positive aspects of the state lab’s testing procedures.
“Fortunately, our state lab has done yeoman’s work. We’re running three shifts a day there, 24 hours a day,” Polis said.
He continued, “So, while some are still sent out of state, and unfortunately that takes a long time and we can’t count on it and our country needs to get testing right, we’re trying to build that capacity in Colorado to process tests about one to two-day turnaround.”
Like Colorado, many other states have faced similar testing issues. As more than 39 states face upticks in coronavirus cases, some private labs are facing challenges to clear backlogs of testing.
As of Monday morning, there are nearly 3.9 million known coronavirus cases in the United States, including more than 40,000 cases in Colorado.