Officials at the state Health Department are reserving judgment on a Republican lawmakers’ call for widespread testing at Minnesota’s long-term care facilities. Nearly 80 percent of Minnesota’s COVID-19 deaths are residents of such facilities, and Senator Karin Housley says there should be “all-hands-on-deck” testing of staff. Assistant Health Commissioner Dan Huff responds, “We have a number of priority populations. We have our long-term care, we have the folks in food production…. These are all priorities, and testing is an important part of this.”
Officials say they don’t yet know whether expected increases in testing will provide enough capacity for widespread evaluations at long-term care facilities.