Reno County approves one-month pilot of Hutchinson Clinic asymptomatic testing funded by CARES Act

The Reno County Commission on Sept. 8 voted to approve a one-month pilot with Hutchinson Clinic to provide asymptomatic community COVID-19 testing, targeting about 250 tests per week and prioritizing school staff during the initial outreach.

County administrator Randy Purdington introduced the clinic's proposal, saying the projected cost is $29,725 per week and $118,900 per month and that the money could come from the county's CARES Act allocation or from a local COVID fund. "We could reallocate some of that money," Purdington said, urging the commission to give direction on whether to continue past the initial week that had already taken place.

Interim health officer Karen Hammersmith described the event held the previous Saturday and said the objective was community screening of people without symptoms to better estimate spread. "The goal was to have people that have not been exposed ... and that we're not showing any symptoms so that you get actual community testing because that's a screening," Hammersmith said.

Emergency management director Adam Weiser cautioned the commission to verify supply chains. "The clinic is requesting swabs from us saying that they can't keep up with the current demand," Weiser said, urging the county to explore doing testing in-house if grant funds become available to avoid supply shortfalls and reduce costs.

Commissioners emphasized the testing's purpose for schools, noting the KDHE and Kansas Department of Education gating criteria that place districts into color-coded categories based on positive test rates. Hammersmith said a sustained testing goal is to test about 3.6% of the county population on a continuing basis; roughly 250 tests a week would yield about 1,200 tests monthly toward that aim.

Chair moved to approve the clinic's proposal for a four-week period, with the item to return to the commission in three weeks to decide whether to continue or shift to county-run testing if grants come through. The motion passed; commissioners called for weekly updates on supplies and test results.

The county said it would use CARES Act funds for the pilot, and staff will report test results and supply status at the next meeting to determine whether to extend or alter the program.