Johnson County is receiving its first shipment of new coronavirus test kits this week — as the county begins to roll out a $400,000 program aimed at better collecting data on the outbreak.
Sanmi Areola, public health director, said the goal is to test about 4,000 randomly selected residents — with or without symptoms — to analyze how the virus is spreading throughout the community. But with a shortage of test kits, and only 700 swabs available in the first shipment, Areola said the county will test only high-risk residents, for now.
The kits — including 500 from Quest Diagnostics and 200 from the state health department — will be used to test health care workers, grocery store employees, first responders and nursing home residents, he said.
(Read more: Joco 913 News)
