Gov. Kim Reynolds addressed increasing COVID-19 testing procedures in the state of Iowa in her Thursday press conference, with a focus on long-term care facilities.

“Three weeks ago, I announced the launch of Test Iowa, a statewide initiative to significantly expand COVID-19 testing for Iowans,” Reynolds said. “I am pleased to announce that the State Hygienic Lab completed the Test Iowa validation process yesterday, achieving high ratings of 95 percent accuracy for determining positives and 99.7 percent accuracy for determining negatives.”

Reynolds said more tests and quicker test processing can be expected now that the State Hygienic Laboratory has completed the Test Iowa validation process.

Reynolds then introduced Sarah Reisetter, deputy director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, to address additional mitigation efforts put in place for the staff and residents of state-run long-term care facilities.

“We know that the virus spreads quickly and efficiently in settings where people live and work closely together, and we also know that people over 65 and those with underlying health conditions are more susceptible to severe illness if they do become infected,” Reisetter said. 

Reisetter said steps such as isolating residents and preventing visitors were implemented to reduce the introduction of the virus, but 57% of the COVID-19 related deaths in Iowa have been among residents of long-term care facilities.

Reisetter said sanitization techniques are continually being introduced among Iowa’s long-term care facilities, as well as offering testing supplies to every facility with identified cases so all residents and staff can be tested for the virus.

There have been an additional 386 positive cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the state of Iowa, making a total of 13,675 cases.

The Iowa Department of Public Health reported 12 additional deaths, for a total of 318 deaths statewide.

3,575 additional people have been tested, for a total of 89,294 people tested statewide.

Of those who tested positive, an additional 227 recoveries have been made, for a total of 6,231 recoveries statewide.

The total number of positive COVID-19 cases in Story County is 66.