Gov. Kim Reynolds responded to criticism regarding Test Iowa and a lack of test availability at a Thursday press conference, saying the Test Iowa program reduced available tests for a short period but is now increasing test capability again.

“They brought the numbers down a little bit because of the holiday and we didn’t have the lab and we don’t want people waiting on results,” Reynolds said of the amount of tests being done. “So we wanted to make sure that we would meet that expectation.”

She said the state of Iowa tested 160,146 people from Nov. 1 to Nov. 7; about 23,000 Iowans per day, including tests from Test Iowa and other health-care providers.

“Our current capacity with the rollback with the holiday was 2,470 yesterday,” Reynolds said. “Today, we added some…so we have the capacity now doing 3,040, and that went into effect yesterday so we bumped them up.”

Reynolds said Test Iowa now has the capacity to handle 6,000 tests per day; up 3,000 from what she said the initial goal was when the initiative was introduced in the spring.  

Reynolds said if Iowans aren’t able to schedule an appointment with Test Iowa they should look at alternative testing options, including visiting local clinics and pharmacies.

“I know there’s high demand for testing at this time and that appointments are filling quickly,” Reynolds said. “But I want to remind Iowans again that there are many, many options for testing, including a doctor, clinic, pharmacies…so if a test site near you is full please seek out another option so that you know if you have the virus as soon as possible.”