Name: 'Fallen short': Local health official tells Gov. Kim Reynolds’ staff Test Iowa, lack of data leaves county at disadvantage
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'Fallen short': Local health official tells Gov. Kim Reynolds’ staff Test Iowa, lack of data leaves county at disadvantage

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Des Moines RegisterView CommentsLinn County officials have struggled to get basic data from the Test Iowa&nbsp;coronavirus testing site in Cedar Rapids, making it difficult to make smart public health decisions, a&nbsp;top health emergency response official in eastern Iowa told Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration this week.In an email sent to key Reynolds deputies, Tricia Kitzmann, the incident commander for&nbsp;Linn County&nbsp;Public Health's COVID-19 response, included the subject line: "Test Iowa Concerns." It&nbsp;presented a dire portrait of&nbsp;communication between the governor’s office and officials representing one of Iowa's&nbsp;largest counties.“This should be a team effort (Federal, State and County) as we try to maximize testing services for our residents,” Kitzmann wrote in the Tuesday&nbsp;email obtained by the Des Moines Register. “We feel that we are at a disadvantage as the data is not being shared at the county level to allow for a complete testing picture.”Kitzmann, who declined a request for comment from the Register, said in her email that she was concerned about the "lag time" between testing at the Test Iowa Cedar Rapids site and&nbsp;results being sent to officials; the lack of county-specific information about how many people were qualified&nbsp;to be tested and how many had&nbsp;received negative test results; and the "high" number of inconclusive test results.Since the Test Iowa Cedar Rapids site&nbsp;at Kirkwood Community College&nbsp;opened on May 7,&nbsp;Kitzmann wrote there had been&nbsp;823 tests completed there as of Monday. But officials&nbsp;had&nbsp;received only 20 results by then. Of those, 16 were&nbsp;inconclusive.“When we receive timely results, we begin and isolation measures to mitigate spread of the infection,” she wrote.&nbsp;“Due to the lag time between testing and results, we are delayed in our response.”Liz Matney, a Reynolds aide; Ken Sharp, a top official at the Iowa Department of Public Health; and Pat Garrett, the governor's spokesman, were among those copied on&nbsp;Kitzmann's Tuesday email.Reynolds and Sarah&nbsp;Reisetter, deputy director for the&nbsp;state public health department, were asked about the critique at a news conference on Thursday.Reisetter said her agency is working to address the reported problems. She said the state's goal is to get lab results to local officials as quickly as possible so they can investigate virus activity."We are aware of the concerns, we're looking into the concerns, and we will resolve them as quickly as we can," she said.Kitzmann is among the top&nbsp;public health officials responding to the novel coronavirus in&nbsp;Linn County, . As of Thursday morning, there had&nbsp;been more than 900 positive cases of the virus in the county and more than 70 related deaths. Statewide, there have been as of Thursday morning.Kitzmann&nbsp;ended her email with a plea: "We await your response to determine how these concerns can be addressed to make data-driven decisions within Linn County."Reynolds has faced&nbsp;previous questions about the implementation of Test Iowa, &nbsp;designed to significantly increase the state's testing capacity. Utah companies were awarded a no-bid contract to administer the program, which aims&nbsp;to eventually provide&nbsp;3,000 coronavirus tests per day that are separate from&nbsp;other testing efforts in the state.The state has increased its testing since early March. In March, the state recorded an average of about 250 tests per day, with the total ramping up through the month. In April, the state recorded an average of about 1,400 tests per day. So far in May, the state has recorded an average of slightly more than 3,000 tests per day.But it's unclear how much of the increase&nbsp;can be attributed to the Test Iowa program.&nbsp;Reynolds' administration has not released information about how many tests have been completed through the&nbsp;Test Iowa program and how many tests have been completed by other health care providers, despite requests.In the weeks since the first testing site launched on April 25 in Des Moines, . Reynolds acknowledged those delays were tied to a backlog at a state laboratory.Reynolds then&nbsp;confirmed . As some&nbsp;, Reynolds announced the &nbsp;to address&nbsp;complaints and questions.“For those Iowans who have reached out to tell us that we've fallen short of meeting their expectations,” Reynolds said on May 14, “we hear you.”Reynolds .&nbsp;On Monday,&nbsp;the governor&nbsp;claimed at her news conference that expanded testing had generated "significantly more data, better enabling evidence-based decision-making in real time."On Thursday, she announced that the testing criteria for the Test Iowa program would expand to&nbsp;allow anyone to get tested through the available sites.&nbsp;The change should be in effect by Friday morning.Kitzmann wrote in her&nbsp;email that the total number of completed tests from the Test Iowa site in Cedar Rapids seemed “very low compared to what the Governor continues to say the capacity our state has for testing in Iowa.”Kitzmann also warned that individuals who were completing an online health assessment, which is required to schedule a coronavirus test through Test Iowa, may&nbsp;be facing roadblocks. Kitzmann said officials hadn't seen very high numbers of attendees at the Cedar Rapids site.► MORE:“Monday was the first day we saw over 200 tests (performed),” she wrote. “We would like to know how many individuals have been given an appointment for testing compared to the number that actually arrived for their appointment. All of this information is utilized as we continue to do planning for our local response working with local providers for additional testing options, for disease follow-up and contact tracing.”There were also reports about low testing numbers at the Test Iowa Waterloo site earlier this month. Officials&nbsp;there confirmed just&nbsp;, and&nbsp;11 were tested the following day.&nbsp;As of Thursday, there were eight Test Iowa sites in the state.In her email, Kitzmann&nbsp;requested information about basic data, including the number of negative tests at the Test Iowa Cedar Rapids site.“It is hard to get a picture of the positivity rate if we do not know the number of negative tests as well,” she wrote.&nbsp;“According to state code, both negative and positive COVID-19 tests are required to be reported. How can we receive this information so that we can find the gaps to continue our outreach efforts?”Reynolds said at her May 14 news conference that more than 4,300 people had been tested through the&nbsp;Test Iowa program. On Thursday, Reynolds said more than 3,000 additional people had been tested in recent days, and more than 700 tests were scheduled.The Reynolds' administration has not released information&nbsp;about how many Test Iowa results are positive, negative or inconclusive. In neighboring Nebraska, which has a similar program, the governor there .► MORE:&nbsp;Garrett told the Register in an email that the Iowa Department of Public Health&nbsp;has provided "additional guidance and training" at Test Iowa sites to prevent "significant" inconclusive test results. He did not elaborate.Iowa's Congressional Democrats have also raised questions about the Test Iowa program as state officials prepare to mark its first month in operation. On Tuesday, U.S. Reps. Cindy Axne, Abby Finkenauer and Dave Loebsack to Reynolds highlighting the program's&nbsp;delayed results, while also calling for a Test Iowa site in western Iowa."The fact that positive cases are increasing while our testing capabilities remain limited is deeply concerning," the members wrote. "As our economy has begun to reopen, we know that Iowans will feel safer if they can access a test quickly and within their communities." Barbara Rodriguez covers health care and politics for the Register. She can be reached by email at or by phone at 515-284-8011. Follow her on Twitter .Your subscription makes work like this possible. Sign up at&nbsp;.View Comments

Des Moines RegisterView CommentsLinn County officials have struggled to get basic data from the Test Iowa&nbsp;coronavirus testing site in Cedar Rapids, making it difficult to make smart public health decisions, a&nbsp;top health emergency response official in eastern Iowa told Gov. Kim Reynolds’ administration this week.In an email sent to key Reynolds deputies, Tricia Kitzmann, the incident commander for&nbsp;Linn County&nbsp;Public Health's COVID-19 response, included the subject line: "Test Iowa Concerns." It&nbsp;presented a dire portrait of&nbsp;communication between the governor’s...

'Fallen short': Local health official tells Gov. Kim Reynolds’ staff Test Iowa, lack of data leaves county at disadvantage

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