Testing for COVID-19 at Milan Airport. Photo: Dipartimento Protezione Civile from Italia, licensed under Creative Commons.
Author: Sam Buisman
The State of Wisconsin is partnering with five private healthcare companies to increase coronavirus testing.
According to a press release from Governor Tony Evers, the Wisconsin Clinical Lab Network will share information and resources with UW Health, Exact Sciences, Marshfield Clinic Health System and Promega to increase the state's capacity to administer COVID-19 tests. The Evers Administration estimates that this partnership will allow Wisconsin to double the number of tests administered daily to 3,000-4,000 tests per day.
This private-public partnership comes amidst frustrations in appealing to the federal government for testing resources. While the Evers Administration requested testing supplies and protective equipment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Thursday, FEMA had still not processed the request as of Monday. The administration confirmed that even with this new partnership, they are still petitioning FEMA for the requested resources.
Governor Evers praised the five private partners for their initiative, saying through a press release “Wisconsin is extremely fortunate to have these industry leaders in our own backyard.”
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, there are currently 1,221 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Wisconsin. Of these cases, 192 are in Dane County.
