FARGO, N.D. (AP) - North Dakota’s effort to meet White House guidelines to put people back to work received a boost this week when the state secured 140,000 test kits for COVID-19 antibodies, Gov. Doug Burgum said Friday.
The tests are meant to show whether someone was stricken with the coronavirus, in many cases with mild or no symptoms, and built up an immunity to it. It should help the state open up its economy and protect vulnerable residents, as well as provide peace of mind to people worried about transmitting the virus, Burgum said.
The new kits, on top of 10,000 previously ordered, will give North Dakota antibody tests for one in every five residents. It wasn’t immediately clear who manufactured the kits.
“Those tests have been coveted by states and organizations to try and bring those in,” Burgum said.
The announcement came as health officials said 39 more positive COVID-19 cases were reported in North Dakota. Twenty-eight cases were from Cass County, which includes the Fargo metropolitan area. There were eight confirmed cases for the coronavirus in Grand Forks County, which has the highest per-capita rate of positive tests in the state.
The numbers listed Friday do not include results from Thursday’s mass testing in Grand Forks, where officials have been trying to track cases tied to an outbreak at a wind turbine plant. That effort produced more than 700 tests of LM Wind Power employees, close contacts of those workers, first responders and other members of the general public, according to Grand Forks city officials.
Grand Forks Public Health Department Director Debbie Swanson said state and local health officials hope to test anyone associated with people who were sickened at the plant.
“This is an extraordinary effort that everybody is putting forward to try and ascertain all the individuals who have tested positive and that are contacts of people who tested positive,” Swanson said. “That goes for employees at any workplace.”
Health officials said 285 of the nearly 750 people with positive tests in the state have recovered. Seventeen people remain hospitalized and 15 people have died. No new deaths were reported Friday.
Maj. Gen. Alan Dohrmann of the North Dakota National Guard said another mass testing is planned in Fargo on Saturday, with a capacity of up to 1,100 people. He added that the state is prepared to test anyone who has symptoms, with an emphasis on those in senior living facilities.
“We are getting that testing engine up and running a little bit stronger,” said Burgum, noting that the state ranks ninth in the nation in per-capita testing.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.