Kansas nearly last in COVID-19 testing, lacks ‘clout’ in bidding war for supplies
As states debate how and when to begin relaxing restrictions that have kept Americans in their homes and shut down large swaths of the economy, officials agree that robust, rapid coronavirus testing is crucial before returning to any semblance of normal.
But Kansas ranks nearly last in testing its residents, a disconcerting sign as pressure grows on Gov. Laura Kelly to outline a path to reopening.
Multiple sites that track testing in the U.S. place Kansas near the bottom of states and territories when it comes to testing-per-person. The Coronavirus API Public Health Initiative, which gathers data from state health websites, says Kansas administers roughly 565 tests per 100,000 residents. The Reno County, Kansas, Health Department places the figure closer to 545 tests per 100,000.
In both, Kansas ranked 49th among states on Friday.
Kelly said in a Friday interview with The Kansas City Star and The Wichita Eagle the state hasn’t received the testing supplies it needs, adding that if “we had them, we’d be using them.” Every state, and some local governments, are competing for the same materials, she said.
And her requests to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for supplies – including testing materials – have effectively gone unfulfilled, she said.
“We don’t have the purchasing clout that we need to be able to outbid all the folks we’re competing with and then we don’t have the urgency to get from FEMA what we need,” said Kelly, seated at a conference table in her Statehouse office.
About 16,122 COVID-19 tests have been performed in Kansas. Just nine states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, have tested fewer people.
“We’ve got have them in bulk if we really want to be able to open the doors at all,” Kelly said.
Testing needed to reopen
Health officials say that once lockdowns end, widespread testing will be needed to quickly identify infected individuals and their contacts. Without it, cities and states risk triggering fresh waves of cases that could easily spread and lead to surges in hospital use.
“As we look at reopening society, our ability to help with any sort of micro-wave or micro-surge in different communities will be totally dependent, I think, on that,” Steve Stites, chief medical officer of the University of Kansas Health System, said during a virtual news conference Friday.
The White House released guidelines Thursday for reopening the country, featuring broad statements with few details. Under “Core State Responsibilities” the document calls for the ability to quickly set up screening and testing sites for people without symptoms and the ability to trace back their contacts.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Thursday that his administration is in “very strong communication with the governors.”
“We’re going to be helping with testing. They’re going to be doing the testing,” Trump said.
No state should begin reopening until it has “adequate,” “persistent” testing, Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, told reporters.
U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran said he had spoken with Trump and other senators about testing. In a statement, he called widespread testing “one of the most important factors” in beginning to return to normal.
Earlier this week, Kelly extended her statewide stay-at-home order to May 3. It would have expired this weekend. The governor said she’s hopeful that on May 4 “we really will be able to” lift the order and to begin reopening, but cautioned firm guidelines will need to be in place.
It’s unclear how much Kansas will be able to expand testing over the next two weeks. Asked if she has a testing benchmark the state needs to achieve before reopening, Kelly said she doesn’t have that number yet, but she will be speaking with public health officials about it.
“We really do have to set the metrics for when we can reopen and we’ve got to have that stuff in place by May 3,” Kelly said.
In Missouri, Gov. Mike Parson said he is determined to begin reopening the state on May 4, after his order banning gatherings of 10 or more expires. Among the things that must happen for that to take place, Parson said Thursday, is a dramatic increase in the state’s testing capacity.
“Every day,” he said, “we’re looking for ways to get more tests.”
Parson estimated that roughly 3,000 COVID-19 tests are conducted every day in Missouri. He wants to double that figure in the next week, he said, “and I think that’s doable.”
Parson further predicted on Thursday that Missouri will be able to do “10,000 or more tests a day in the near future.”
As of Thursday, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services reported that there have been 51,545 tests in Missouri, including private labs.
The department said Friday that the number of COVID-19 tests performed in Missouri fluctuates quite a bit, and over the last week the numbers have varied anywhere from 1,100 to 4,200 a day.
‘Punished for our wisdom’
In addition to testing supplies, Kansas has also asked FEMA for at least 22.3 million gloves, 4.6 million N95 masks, 1.2 million face shields, 10.7 surgical masks and 500 ventilators and testing.
Kelly said the state on Wednesday received a single shipment of KN95 masks, many of which are being produced in China. The Food and Drug Administration reversed its position earlier this month to allow use of the masks in U.S. medical facilities after leaving them off earlier guidance.
Kelly called the masks “inferior.”
“Our folks tested them and said we couldn’t use [them] as face shields without serious modification,” Kelly said. “So we’ve got essentially stuff we can’t use.”
Vice President Mike Pence called the governor last week after a McClatchy reporter asked him about her FEMA requests. On Friday, Kelly said during the call she told him the system “really punishes those of us who got out ahead of this and kept the curve flatter and kept the numbers down.”
“It does feel that those of us who got out ahead of it are now being punished for our wisdom,” she said.
Earlier this week, Kelly had indicated she planned to call Pence again if supplies didn’t arrive. She said Friday that she didn’t reach out again because she participated in the administration’s call with governors on Thursday.
Kelly was the first governor in the country to order school buildings closed for the rest of the academic year. She also issued an executive order that limits in-person religious gatherings to 10 people after exempting them from earlier directives – a decision that led to a fight with Republican leaders.
Kansas Republicans have grown more vocal in the past few days in calling on the governor to outline a path to lifting restrictions on people and businesses.
“This experiment, the ‘Kelly experiment,’ has taken a toll on our Kansas small businesses which are crucial to the economic life here in Kansas and has affected the normalcy of every Kansans life,” Sen. Dennis Pyle, a Hiawatha Republican, said in a statement.
Medical professionals warn that once restrictions begin to ease, social distancing and hygiene – such as staying six feet away from others and frequently washing hands – will remain important.
“It’s going to be reopening with personal responsibility,” Stites said. “That is the key, I think, to a successful outcome.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 1:39 PM with the headline "Kansas nearly last in COVID-19 testing, lacks ‘clout’ in bidding war for supplies."