WASHINGTON — Missouri Senator Roy Blunt announced the state will be receiving an additional $135 million through the Department of Health and Human Services to expand the coronavirus testing capabilities.
The funding was included in the Paycheck Protection and Health Care Enhancement Act.
It will be used to develop, purchase, administer, process and analyze the coronavirus tests, scale-up laboratory capacity, trace contact and support employer testing, according to a press release.
“Expanding coronavirus testing capacity is critical to making sure people have the information they need to stop the spread of this disease,” said Blunt. “As we increase testing, we can more confidently move forward with fully reopening schools and businesses. This latest round of funding will provide additional support for our state’s coronavirus response efforts, including increasing access to testing and reducing the time it takes to analyze test results.
Additionally, this funding will go toward improving contact tracing, which is a critical component of stopping the transmission of COVID-19. At the same time, I’m encouraged to see more than 1,000 developers have begun applying to work with the National Institutes of Health to create new technologies to ramp up the speed and scale of testing even further. This will continue to be an area I’m focused on as we work to protect public health and get our economy moving again.”
Blunt has led efforts to expand COVID-19 testing capacity, according to the release. In addition to the $135 million in funding, Blunt and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander developed a “Shark Tank”-style initiative to accelerate the development of COVID-19 testing technologies.
More than 1,000 developers have already started applying for the program.
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