Governor Northam has created a health task force to coordinate increasing coronavirus testing in the state. Northam says this is the first step toward easing stay-at-home and business restrictions.
Per the latest CDC guidelines issued last week, states must see a decrease in new coronavirus cases for 14-days before considering re-opening the economy, and Northam says that Virginia is "not there yet." Data models predict a peak in Virginia's coronavirus cases later this week.
This new task force will coordinate the testing capacity at the state lab, hospitals, private commercial labs, and universities, while also working to obtain the necessary supplies, such as swabs, reagents, transport containers, and personal protective equipment.
The task force will also provide guidelines to increase testing sites, update the criteria for testing, isolating those who test positive, and tracking their contacts. With the increased capacity, health care providers in the state will now be encouraged to test all symptomatic patients.
The Virginia Department of Health is also adding more data to its daily information update on its website to include the number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths by locality rather than just grouped by broader health districts.
The VDH is also continuing to work with long-term care facilities and meat processing plants to mitigate outbreaks.
More on this story from our media partner, ABC 13 - WSET.