Hawkeye Reporter

An expansion of testing in Iowa has gotten off to a sluggish start as machines supplied for validation have yet to be signed off on.

Test Iowa is an initiative the state has developed with the private sector to increase testing. State data indicates one in every 44 residents have been tested. The state signed a contract with a Utah company in the amount of $26 million to help boost the numbers, but the partnership is off to a shaky start. The machines for testing samples have failed to be validated with no timetable offered for completion of the process. Results are being processed by machines the State Hygienic Lab was already in possession of, the Globe Gazette reported. 

Gov. Kim Reynolds said the backlog of results that are related to the validation issues have been caught up, but the Gazette reported some Iowans were still waiting for results from their tests. The state confirmed a “small percentage” of samples had not been processed because they were “potentially damaged,” the Gazette reported.