Colorado paid $6.2 million in April for COVID-19 tests and supplies, records show
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The State of Colorado paid at least $6.2 million for COVID-19 tests and related supplies in April, purchasing records show.
COVID-19 tests are in high-demand as some health experts indicate expanding testing capacity is crucial to reopening the economy.
According to a spokesperson for the Colorado Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, the state did not purchase COVID-19 tests in March or May as of Friday afternoon.
However, in April, records obtained by KRDO show Colorado officials spent at least $6.2 million for COVID-19 swabs, tests, microtubes, gloves and other lab supplies to boost the states testing efforts.
One of the purchases authorized by state officials in April was for the 100,000 COVID-19 tests from a subsidiary of a South Korea genome sequencing company. The 100,000 tests, which Gov. Jared Polis had kept secret from the federal government until they arrived in the state, were bought for $1.8 million from EDGC HealthCare Co Ltd.
According to The Korea Times, EDGC HealthCare plans to export more of those tests to Colorado this month after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted its test kit emergency-use approval.
Polis said last week that Colorado currently has the testing capacity to facilitate 10,000 tests every day. The state has yet to meet even half of that capacity, according to Polis. At this time, all Coloradans who experience COVID-19 like symptoms can get tested for free.
