State completing mass COVID-19 testing at long term care facilities

The state Department of Health is expecting to complete its mass COVID-19 testing of residents and staff at nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the state within the week.  State Health Secretary Kim Malsam-Rysdon said in the department’s media briefing Monday that so far more than 17-thousand residents and staff had been tested with a low rate of positive cases.  

The mass testing of these long-term care facilities started in counties where there had been substantial community spread of COVID-19 and then moved on to other facilities around the state.  Malsam-Rysdon said the mass testing will expand into other areas possibly yet this week.

Malsam-Rysdon said when the testing began that the facilities collect the specimens for testing and the state covers the cost of processing them.