DES MOINES, Iowa - Governor Kim Reynolds program to mass test for COVID-19/coronavirus is being called into question.
Test Iowa is based on a similar effort in Utah, where a doctor on that state's COVID-19 task force has called it a "potential public health disaster."
The Salt Lake City Tribune reports that data shows positive results in people tested at Test Utah sites is less than half the rate of patients tested elsewhere in that state.
The concerns in Utah center on tests being supplied by a small Salt Lake City company and their processing being conducted at a small community hospital.
Governor Reynolds saysshe's confident in the Test Iowa results processed at the State Hygienic Lab. The same Salt Lake City company is supplying tests for Test Iowa.
Iowa is spending $26 million on its testing program, which is run by Utah-based Nomi Health. The Tribune reports that Nomi said that comparing Test Utah’s results with those of other sites is “not apples to apples.”
The Tribune obtained an email from Bert Lopansri, who sits on Utah's task force on coronavirus testing, to the deputy director of the Utah Department of Health. It reads:
“What alarms me the most is that they are expanding collection and testing with these unknowns about how their test performs. If correct, I urge you to halt their testing until we understand why their results differ so much from what other labs are reporting," Lopansri wrote.
“This is a potential public health disaster that will be compounded by the fact that they are constantly promoting themselves publicly while we are not."