DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds expressed confidence Thursday that coronavirus testing in the new TestIowa program would be reliable and accurate once the machines Iowa bought for the program are validated and set up.
Reynolds was asked about the tests at her daily news conference after a Salt Lake Tribune story published Thursday questioned their accuracy. A Utah company is contracting with the state of Utah as well as Iowa, which bought tests and equipment from the business earlier this month as part of a $26 million contract.
The Iowa Department of Public Health has confirmed Iowa has received 14,500 test kits and other equipment, including lab machines, laptops computers and scanners, from health software startup Nomi Health. Reynolds has said the program offered by Nomi Health will help Iowa dramatically increase testing and is a key part of Iowa’s move to reopen the state’s economy.
An additional 150,000 to 200,000 tests are expected to arrive this week. The state paid $15 million up front to get the program started.
Under the contract, Nomi Health will supply 540,000 coronavirus tests to Iowa over the next six months. Its partners include Utah-based Co-Diagnostics, which recently received federal approval to sell COVID-19 testing kits, and tech firms Qualtrics and Domo.
It’s the Co-Diagnostics tests that the Utah newspaper said may be turning up fewer positive results than other coronavirus tests.
Company officials denied there was a discrepancy and said results vary with different populations. Utah is testing anyone who wants to be tested, so such a population would likely result in fewer positive results than if testing was focused on individuals who have symptoms or work in areas with outbreaks, the company said.
While state equipment is being use to process some of the test kits Iowa bought as part of the contract, the new machines are still being run through validation tests.
Reynolds says the State Hygienic Laboratory in Iowa City has significant expertise in such testing and she’s confident the FDA-approved testing system will prove to be accurate.
She reported 302 new Iowa cases Thursday for a total of 7,145 positive cases. An additional 14 Iowans died, raising the state total to 162.
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