Minnesota's answer to increased COVID-19 testing may lie in its own backyard…the Mayo Clinic

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Mayo Clinic says it can produce enough tests to meet Governor Tim Walz's demands to reopen Minnesota's economy. 

According to The Post Bulletin, Mayo Clinic's Dr. William Morice says that the company could produce 8,000-10,000 tests daily, depending on what type of test the Governor would want. He says they can offer molecular or diagnostic and serological tests. 

"Clearly its in the best interest of the country to have as much of this testing available as we try to fight COVID. And so we'll continue to see the number of tests and the number of tests available to the general public grow in the coming days and weeks. But even today, we can do 10,000 a day"

Mayo Clinic Laboratories launches serology testing in support of #COVID19 responsehttps://t.co/f7B75h8QrR pic.twitter.com/8w7XlEb20O

— Mayo Clinic Labs (@mayocliniclabs) April 14, 2020

Governor Walz said on Monday that he isn't considering reopening the Minnesota economy until the state can test 40,000 people a week, or 5,000 per day. When pressed about how those tests will help, Walz said “For those that keep asking, ‘What’s the plan to reopen?’ The plan to reopen is very, very clear: test, trace, isolate, open back up. And continue this until we get a vaccine.”

On Wednesday's COVID-19 briefing, Governor Walz and health officials reiterated that while Minnesota does have the laboratory capacity to do as many as 5,000 tests per day, they continue to be hampered by a shortage of testing supplies like swabs, chemicals, masks, and gloves:

"This testing is a major lynchpin to getting this right and we're committed to getting it right. So we'll keep pushing it. I believe Minnesota can do this. If we do, we'll be the outlier in the country. And I do believe we will be the one that is best-positioned to safely start to move people back into the workforce."Walz calls adequate testing the "surest way to get back to normalcy."

Dr. Morice says that Mayo plans to prioritize the state of Minnesota when releasing these tests, but is open to sending across the nation.

"We've had it up and running for about a week. It is now available for anyone who wants to send within the United States testing to Mayo Clinic. We can now do that testing here"