Last week the state health department set a goal of testing an additional 30,000 to 60,000 people over the next three weekends for the SARS CoV2 virus. The goal is to test between 10,000 and 20,000 people starting yesterday and also the next 2 Saturdays (May 9 and May 16).
They said testing will take place at drive-thru and onsite locations across the state. The testing locations, hours and registration information can be found at azhealth.gov/testingblitz.
The supply of test kits and specimen transport media must have gotten a lot better in the last week in order to make a commitment like this. Up until now, the availability of testing kits has been an impediment to wider testing.
It sure will be interesting to see the surveillance data that comes out of the Saturday testing. While I expect that it’ll result in an increase in cases- I bet it also finds a lower percent positive rate because lower risk people are being tested. The ADHS Data Dashboard hasn’t been updated yet this am… but you can check back on the dashboard to see how that blitz thing worked out.
Also, remember that the chart that shows new hospitalizations per day is really the most important surveillance tool because it’s less dependent on ephemeral testing capacity.
