Ohio expands COVID-19 testing criteria

Ohio this week broadly expanded the criteria for determining who is allowed to get a COVID-19 test to include Ohioans who are showing symptoms of the disease (Source: “New state criteria for coronavirus tests could include a broad group of Ohioans,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, May 28, 2020).

Gov. Mike DeWine announced the changes at his Thursday briefing. Tests, which had been in short supply, were previously strictly reserved for people who were hospitalized, worked in health care, were elderly or had underlying medical conditions that made them vulnerable to COVID-19.

The Ohio Department of Health was one of the last states to receive working testing kits from the federal government. Since then, testing capacity has slowly increased, but is still low compared to other states, territories and Washington, D.C.

As of Thursday, just over 357,000 Ohioans had been tested for COVID-19. Ohio was ninth lowest in the country for its testing rate per 100,000 people: Just 2,992, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 testing data. Rhode Island leads the nation, with 13,088 tests per 100,000 people, followed by New York at 9,270 and North Dakota at 8,860.