'Get Tested' Washington Urges All With Coronavirus Symptoms

WASHINGTON — When the pandemic began, coronavirus testing kits were in short supply and state officials urged only those who were very ill or at high risk to seek out tests. Now, health care officials say the state has enough access to coronavirus tests that every person with coronavirus symptoms can and should be tested.

Over the past week, roughly 6,000 patients were tested for the coronavirus each day. At a conference Thursday, Gov. Inslee said the state now has the capacity to analyze more than 20,000 tests a day, and nearly enough kits to match.

"If you think you're sick, please get tested," said Inslee. "We strongly encourage people to do this even if they are mildly symptomatic."

According to the governor's office, anyone should get tested immediately if:

• They have mild COVID-19 symptoms like cough, fever, chills, or shortness of breath.
• A case of the coronavirus is confirmed in their household or in a close contact.
• They live or work in settings that were exposed to a coronavirus outbreak.

The governor says Washington has also set up a variety of programs to help everyone get tested, even if they don't have insurance. The state Insurance Commissioner has extended an order waiving copay on coronavirus tests through at least July 3. Health care workers and state officials have also tried to set up free drive-thru and walk-up testing clinics for uninsured patients, and Inslee says there are other channels to help get tests to the housebound or others who have difficulties reaching testing sites.

At Thursday's conference, Washington Secretary of Health John Wiesman said ideally the state would get each patient tested within 24 hours of them developing coronavirus symptoms.

"Washington state's testing strategy centers around this," said Wiesman. "This can really help people get a peace of mind."

One of the biggest challenges has been trying to make testing more equitable. Both Weisman and Inslee acknowledged Thursday the way the coronavirus has had a disproportionate effect on the underserved and communities of color, and said they would prioritize testing in those communities going forward.

After that, Inslee says when the state can get more stable access to testing kits, the next step is recurring tests.

"We'd like to get to the point where we're doing routine screening of high-risk populations," said Inslee.

That additional testing will be reliant in part on supplies procured from the federal government, which have been difficult to come by. The governor's office says that the federal government only supplied about two thirds of the testing kits they had promised for May, and that many of the kits had been messy, often unlabeled and difficult to use at all.

Despite those difficulties Inslee said he remains optimistic that more testing kits could be made available soon, and ended the conference thanking residents for their patience while Washington found its footing.

"People have been willing to accept the difficult decisions we've had to make to try to reduce this pandemic and I appreciate that, I hope we will continue in that spirit," said Inslee.