With over 100 coronavirus cases, Johnson County approves $400,000 for tests
The Johnson County Board of Commissioners on Monday agreed to allocate $400,000 to purchase thousands of coronavirus tests — despite a shortage of testing supplies creating a major hurdle.
At least 116 people in Johnson County have now tested positive for COVID-19, the most of any county in Kansas, according to statistics released Monday by the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment. Two have died. Statewide, the total number of cases was 368.
Because of statewide shortages, the Kansas health department is only testing Johnson County residents who are high-risk and need to be hospitalized. But county health officials argue limiting testing will make it more difficult to get a clear picture of how the virus is spreading in the community.
Now, Johnson County is pushing its own plan for ramping up testing.
Sanmi Areola, director of the Johnson County Department of Public Health and Environment, said the county needs to test between 3,000 and 5,000 more residents, including some with minor symptoms or who are asymptomatic.
So far, 1,162 people have tested negative for COVID-19 in Johnson County.
Areola hopes a larger sample will allow the county to better track the outbreak and determine if the county’s stay at home order is effective.
Monday afternoon, the board authorized a program in which the county will spend up to $400,000, out of a reserve fund, to purchase sample collection kits, protective gear, the testing and results. The county would ask the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse 75% of the cost.
Areola said the county has been talking to several private labs that have the capacity to do the tests, but an agreement with one vendor already fell through. County officials are in talks with several vendors to provide the testing, he said.
But a nationwide shortage of sample collection kits, including swabs and other testing materials, remains a major concern — likely limiting the county’s ability to perform thousands of tests quickly.
“There is a lot of capacity at laboratories, but the limiting factor is sample collection kits,” Areola said. “It has been a challenge that we’re working through. We have a couple of promising leads and I think we should be able to start this sooner rather than later.”
As Kansas faces a shortage of tests, roughly two-thirds of the state’s positive results have come from private labs, which have greater capacity but take longer to return results. Some officials statewide are concerned that increased testing will lead to hospitals lacking enough protective gear, such as masks and gowns, which are needed at testing sites as well.
In Kansas City, Rex Archer, director of the Kansas City Health Department, said officials have been looking at a similar program aimed at increasing local testing. But there are several barriers to getting the testing done.
“Some of the commercial labs are still way too late in getting their samples back, and the cost in some cases is $300 or more per test. So we are evaluating that issue,” Archer said.
Johnson County Commissioner Jim Allen applauded county officials for taking action.
“I’m not aware of any other county that stepped forward to self-fund testing in the Midwest. I think we’re doing something unusual and using our resources to get the data we need to make sure we’re headed in the right direction,” Allen said. “I think Johnson County is doing something frankly different than almost anybody.”
Johnson County’s testing would be done in phases, Areola said, with about 1,000 to 1,500 samples to start. The county plans to partner with the ETC Institute in Olathe to develop a randomized sampling pool, send out online surveys, then instruct selected residents to go get tested.
The testing would be done at drive-thru locations in Johnson County, Areola said. Health department staff would likely collect the samples, although the county also is maintaining a list of volunteers if necessary.
Over the next few months, as more testing is done, the health department would evaluate the county’s efforts, including the stay at home order, to determine if mitigation strategies have been effective.
“We need data to better estimate case counts, understand the impacts of COVID-19 on sub-populations including children and their roles in transmission, and the role of pre- and asymptomatic transmission,” Areola wrote in the county’s plan. “This will guide our mitigation strategy and ensure we make best use of our health care, human resources and critical care infrastructure in the days ahead.”
The Star’s Allison Kite contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 30, 2020 at 11:56 AM.
