GREENSBORO, N.C. — The White House Coronavirus Task Force is worried about North Carolina's lack of testing.
Dr. Deborah Brix called our Health and Human Services secretary last week to express concern. Another member of the task force tells our CBS station in Charlotte that other states have better testing resources and can move them around to different locations faster when responding to spikes in cases.
2 Wants To Know did some digging to check out those claims.
According to Johns Hopkins, our state ranks 36th in the nation for testing per capita. Number one is Rhode Island, one of the smallest states. Number two is New York, one of the biggest states. So, to give you better context let's look at the states closest in population to us: Georgia and Michigan.
So far, North Carolina has done 553,650 tests. Georgia is up to 671,249, Michigan is at 885,528.
North Carolina’s state health department said it will continue to ramp up our testing levels.
“We want to make sure that everyone stays focused on it and realizes to themselves if they might have had an exposure, "How do I start to think about getting testing,” said Dr. Mandy Cohen, NCDHHS Secretary.
If you need a test, there are more than 400 sites across the state. All you have to do is go to the DHHS Find My Testing Place website.
Even if you aren't showing symptoms, the state wants you to be tested if you've been around large groups like the protests this week.