{"id":33494,"date":"2020-11-09T18:57:37","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T00:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=33494"},"modified":"2021-06-11T14:38:28","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T19:38:28","slug":"cares-act-expiration-threatens-oklahoma-coronavirus-testing-and-pandemic-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2020\/11\/09\/cares-act-expiration-threatens-oklahoma-coronavirus-testing-and-pandemic-response\/","title":{"rendered":"CARES Act expiration threatens Oklahoma coronavirus testing and pandemic response"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px; margin-bottom: 20px; border-radius: 10px; overflow:hidden;\"><iframe style=\"width: 100%; height: 170px;\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.captivate.fm\/episode\/b0edcdf8-acd4-4f92-b822-7950639491df\"><\/iframe><\/div><p>Without congressional action, Oklahoma\u2019s coronavirus testing could soon dwindle.<\/p><p>Congress passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, otherwise known as the CARES Act, this spring. It included funding for coronavirus testing, and state officials have used that to ensure all Oklahomans can get free testing without restrictions through county health departments. Private testing, usually conducted at a medical facility and covered by insurance, can have several requirements. For example, many won\u2019t cover the cost of the test unless the person has symptoms.<\/p><p>CARES funding expires Dec. 31. Commissioner of Health Lance Frye said in a media availability Monday this could severely hamper the state\u2019s testing capacity.<\/p><p>There\u2019s a difference in mission. Insurance companies are responsible only for their own members. For their purposes, tests are necessary to determine whether members will need treatment for COVID-19. On the other hand, a public health agency uses testing as a tool called surveillance to assess spread in a community. Testing on a broader scale helps fight spread.<\/p><p>\u201cWe want to test people, whether they&#8217;re symptomatic or not,\u201d Frye said during the availability. \u201cWe want to know \u2014 have a good idea \u2014 what&#8217;s going on in our communities and try to catch asymptomatic people early.\u201d<\/p><p>Frye said he hopes that members of Congress understand their own actions could undermine the state\u2019s response.<\/p><p>\u201cI just want us all to realize that there&#8217;s a transition that&#8217;s going to occur unless there&#8217;s funding set aside for that. That really will affect our ability to respond,\u201d he said.<\/p><p>Additionally, Oklahoma ranks second in the nation for its uninsured rate. About 14.2 percent of Oklahomans \u2014 about 500,000 people \u2014 didn\u2019t have health insurance in 2019, according to United Health Foundation\u2019s latest annual America\u2019s Health Rankings report. The people least likely to have insurance are the kind of low-wage workers who are most likely to contract COVID-19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Without congressional action, Oklahoma\u2019s coronavirus testing could soon dwindle.Congress passed Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, otherwise known as the CARES Act, this spring. It included funding for coronavirus testing, and state officials have used that to ensure all Oklahomans can get free testing without restrictions through county health departments. Private testing, usually conducted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33494"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33494"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34105,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33494\/revisions\/34105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}