South Dakota’s state medical lab has halted testing samples for coronavirus due to a dwindled supply of lab supplies, according to a Wednesday report from Forum News Service.
In a morning email to a listserv of health care providers, South Dakota Department of Health epidemiologist Joshua Clayton said the state lab “did not receive additional supplies as expected to run tests beyond March 16, and there is no time frame of when these supplies will be available from the CDC and our commercial suppliers.”
In that email he blamed the nationwide “shortage” of supplies to test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Mr. Clayton did not respond to an email from The Washington Times.
The state was prioritizing testing samples of medium- and high-risk patients up until Monday, the last day testing occurred in the state, according to the email, which was shared with The Times.
In a press conference, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem announced on Wednesday that the state’s numbers of tests pending results at the state lab had jumped from 35 to 350 overnight.
“Our positives are likely to go up,” she said.
Ms. Noem had confirmed the state’s 11th case of COVID-19 on Tuesday in a press briefing.
• Christopher Vondracek can be reached at cvondracek@washingtontimes.com.
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