The City of Emporia may soon be getting increased access to close-contact COVID-19 testing. During Wednesday’s meeting of city commissioners, City Consultant Jim Witt updated the board on his efforts to increase availability, saying the initiative would be a partnership between Newman Regional Health and Lyon County Public Health. As with other necessary health resources during the pandemic, Witt said the added tests will also be funded through SPARK funds and are expected to total around $105,000. “We’re at the point where [the organizations] would like to be able to start the close contact testing by Monday …” Witt said. “There were questions from the commission that came up as to how this would affect our overall positivity rate, and I received an answer which was more or less that it should, but might not depending on who’s tested … If you’re doing just people that have been in close contact, you could see an upswing in positivity rate.”
Source: Emporia Gazette
