Arizona State Laboratory Ready To Test For Coronavirus

Published: Friday, February 28, 2020 - 6:24pm
Updated: Friday, March 6, 2020 - 1:56pm

Arizona was among the many states that received flawed coronavirus testing kits in early February. A spokesman for the Arizona Department of Health Services said those issues have now been resolved.

DHS Spokesman Chris Minnick said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention validated that Arizona State Public Health Laboratory to test for the coronavirus on Thursday.

And the state now has testing kits in hand that can detect the virus. Testing is expected to begin on Monday, Minnick said.

Congressman Greg Stanton, in a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, said he was alarmed that it took so long for Arizona to be validated.

Test kits sent to Arizona on Feb. 11 were defective, meaning samples had to be sent to Atlanta to detect the coronavirus.

“Officials in my state have been forced to wait upwards of nearly two weeks to receive coronavirus test results,” Stanton wrote to Pence, who President Trump appointed to manage the health crisis. “This is outrageous and unacceptable.”

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