Name: Texas spends $45 million on 300,000 coronavirus tests
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Texas spends $45 million on 300,000 coronavirus tests

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Asher Price, aprice@statesman.comView CommentsIn a glimpse into the cost of coronavirus testing, the state of Texas is paying $45 million for 300,000 oral-swab tests — or $150 per test, according to a purchase order obtained by the American-Statesman through an open records request.So far, 80,000 of the tests have been sent to Texas prisons, which have been bedeviled by outbreaks.The April 30 purchase agreement is with San Diego-based Gothams LLC, and includes the processing of tests at the private lab of Curative, Inc., according to Seth Christensen, spokesman for the Texas Department of Emergency Management, which made the purchase.Officials with Gothams and Curative, a Los Angeles-based startup, were not immediately available for interviews Wednesday.Christensen said part or all of the purchase may be eligible for federal reimbursement. The purchase price includes the processing of each test.The price tag agreed to by the state for the prison tests is roughly three times as high as the cost of COVID-19 tests listed on distributed by Medicare in mid-March.The prices for health care providers and laboratories to test patients for COVID-19, according to the Medicare bulletin, was $35.92 for the tests developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and $51.33 for all other commercial tests.In April, officials at the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for COVID-19 tests that increase testing capacity and lead to faster results. they would distribute tests manufactured by Curative Inc. at the agency’s prisons.The tests purchased under the current agreement “could go anywhere they’re needed,” Christensen said. “At this point, they’re being used at prisons.”Christensen told the Statesman that because the tests will be run at Curative’s private lab, lab capacities will remain freed up at Texas’ public facilities.“They won’t be run at places where we’re running mobile testing sites,” he said. “Those are actually being driven and flown to university public health labs.”If the testing regime at Texas prisons goes smoothly, Christensen said, other purchases could be made to expand testing in other parts of the state.The purchase agreement calls for deliveries of 100,000 kits per week, starting seven to 14 days after the purchase agreement was struck.The Curative tests, designed to be self-administered, won emergency-use approval in April by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.In April, Curative Inc. and Gothams announced they had signed an agreement with the U.S. Air Force.The $13 million agreement covered the cost of 40,000 test kits, training medical troops to perform the tests, building up a new laboratory in addition to Curative’s current facility, and establishing testing locations at eight Defense Department installations, announcing that deal.Curative in April said it would soon process up to 50,000 COVID-19 tests per day, and the company said it would soon operate eight testing locations across the U.S.At the time, Curative officials said they were working with Gothams to “establish a robust distribution channel that has enabled the company to rapidly scale its testing capacity.”“Through a collection of former Special Operations Command personnel, the Gothams team helped Curative build out testing capacity and establish a relationship with the U.S. Department of Defense that will bring its oral fluid COVID-19 testing service to the U.S. Armed Forces,” the companies’ joint news release said.The purchase and processing of each Texas test under the April 30 purchase invoice comes out to $150.The Texas purchase is “in response for an emergency requirement” and “is authorized under the...disaster declaration issued” by Gov. Greg Abbott, according to language included in the state’s purchase order.“These tests are readily available and deployable,” Bryan Collier, executive director of the TDCJ said on Tuesday. “Increasing the information available to our medical professionals will help us to further enhance the agency’s ability to stop the spread of COVID-19.”At least 30 inmates and seven employees have died from coronavirus-related issues, Texas officials reported this week. At least 640 prison employees, staffers or contractors — as well as more than 1,700 inmates — have tested positive for COVID-19. Nearly a third of Texas’ 136,000 prison inmates are isolated in their cells as dozens of units are in a precautionary lockdown.Those inmates have little to no recreation, limited access to phones and are delivered basic brown-bag meals in their cells, according to prison officials and inmate advocates.While the rate of new cases has slowed down in most large Texas urban areas, thanks to nearly two months of social distancing restrictions, some smaller Texas cities and rural areas have seen a surge in cases, often the result of outbreaks in prisons and nursing centers.“Basically, there’s only three categories causing any type of outbreaks — meatpacking plants, jails and senior centers,” Abbott told President Donald Trump at a meeting Thursday at the White House. “If it weren’t for those three categories, the people in Texas testing positive would be very minimal.”Correction:This story has been updated to reflect that COVID-19 tests purchased by the state of Texas through an April 30 agreement with Gothams LLC may be used in prisons as well as other places.The American-Statesman is making this coverage available to nonsubscribers at no cost as a public service during the coronavirus outbreak.Please support local journalism by subscribing to the Statesman at .Want to stay updated on the latest news about coronavirus in Austin? 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Asher Price, aprice@statesman.comView CommentsIn a glimpse into the cost of coronavirus testing, the state of Texas is paying $45 million for 300,000 oral-swab tests — or $150 per test, according to a purchase order obtained by the American-Statesman through an open records request.So far, 80,000 of the tests have been sent to Texas prisons, which have been bedeviled by outbreaks.The April 30 purchase agreement is with San Diego-based Gothams LLC, and includes the processing of tests at the private lab of Curative, Inc., according to Seth Christensen, spokesman for the Texas Department of...

Texas spends $45 million on 300,000 coronavirus tests

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