Thursday 28th March 2024

Governor Mike Parson stressed how important COIVD-19 testing is to economic recovery in Missouri.
“As we move forward, testing will be critical to Missouri’s full economic recovery and giving Missourians more confidence. We have the testing capacity, and now we must find ways to use that capacity to test as many people as we can,” Governor Parson said. “Once our testing numbers are up, we can really start to ramp up our focus on the economy.”
Governor Parson said the state’s goal within the next week is to increase testing to 7,500 tests per day.
Since March 7, there have been 158,296 Missourians tested for COVID-19 as of Tuesday, May 19. Approximately 90 percent of these tests have been negative. Of Missouri’s 11,080 positive COVID-19 patients, the vast majority has not been hospitalized and have been able to recover at home.
“Again, it is critical to understand that the more tests we do, the more positive cases there will be,” Governor Parson said. “By increasing testing, we can continue to slow the spread by identifying positive patients and isolating them as quickly as possible.”
Expanding COVID-19 testing capacity and volume is one of the four pillars of Missouri’s “Show Me Strong Recovery” Plan, along with expanding PPE reserves, monitoring health care system capacity, and using public health data to predict potential outbreaks.