Feds lift restriction on coronavirus testing after Gov. Inslee lobbies for change
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Washington state now has the ability to test more people for COVID-19, or coronavirus, after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention decided Wednesday to lower the threshold for that test.
Gov. Jay Inslee announced the change during a meeting with reporters Wednesday morning at the state Department of Health in Tumwater. He toured the emergency operations center there after visiting Camp Murray at Joint Base Lewis-McChord earlier in the day. He also visited Maple Lane in south Thurston County, where the state has set up a potential isolation and quarantine site using RVs.
Previously, those with relatively mild symptoms, and who had not been hospitalized, could not be tested for coronavirus, but that restriction has been lifted, he said Wednesday. Inslee said he had reached out to both Vice President Mike Pence and the head of the CDC on Tuesday.
“We now have been given a green light to increase the frequency and protocols under which people can be tested,” he said.
He said the state Public Health Laboratories have increased testing and the University of Washington has recently come online to do testing. Inslee also called on private labs to help.
A spokesman for Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia said Wednesday they were aware of the testing changes, but had no details yet on how they would be implemented.
“We are looking into the process,” spokesman Chris Thomas said. He emphasized that those with symptoms similar to coronavirus should first contact their doctor.
Inslee acknowledged that concerns have been raised about paying for the tests.
“We’re evaluating if the state (can help), or if there is some other form of assistance for those who have difficulty in this regard,” he said.
Coronavirus is spread through contact between people within 6 feet of each other, especially through coughing and sneezing that expels respiratory droplets.
The CDC says it’s possible to catch COVID-19 by touching something that has the virus on it, and then touching your own face, “but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath, which may occur two days to two weeks after exposure. The disease is especially dangerous for the elderly and others with weaker immune systems.
So far, more than 94,000 cases have been reported worldwide, with about 3,200 deaths, the vast majority of them in China. In the U.S.,128 cases have been confirmed, including 10 deaths in Washington state out of 32 reported cases.
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 12:28 PM with the headline "Feds lift restriction on coronavirus testing after Gov. Inslee lobbies for change."
