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It was meant to be a last line of defense to protect the most vulnerable as the coronavirus spread across the United States: Montana officials offered free testing in May for staff and residents at assisted living and long-term care facilities. But not all of them followed through, according to state data, including a facility in Billings, Montana’s largest city, that cares for people with dementia and other memory problems. The virus has infected almost every resident there and killed eight since July 6, accounting for almost a quarter of Montana’s 34 confirmed deaths. Thirty-six employees also have tested positive. (Brown and Hanson, 7/14)

Public health experts generally agree that, in spite of improvements, the U.S. still falls short on the testing needed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The official who oversees the country's testing efforts, however, maintains the U.S. is doing well on testing now and will soon be able to expand testing greatly using newer, point-of-care tests that deliver quick results. (Slotkin, 7/14)

A dramatic slowdown in testing turnaround times is undermining the U.S. response to the coronavirus, rendering tools like contact tracing almost useless in some instances. Quest Diagnostics, one of the main companies doing coronavirus testing, said Monday that “soaring demand” due to the surge in cases across the South and Southwest had pushed back their average turnaround time for getting results of a coronavirus test to at least seven days for all but the highest priority patients. (Sullivan, 7/14)

State officials adopted new guidelines Tuesday outlining who should be prioritized for COVID-19 testing in California as cases surged and counties reported delayed lab results. The new rules mark a move away from the Newsom administration‘s plans for anyone, including those without symptoms, to be tested for the virus in California. The guidelines instead adopt tiers that prioritize the testing of hospitalized patients with coronavirus symptoms, other symptomatic people, and then higher-risk asymptomatic individuals, according to state health officials. (Luna, 7/14)

With coronavirus cases surging and the need for testing at an all-time high, California officials are putting pressure on major health insurance companies to help finance the fight against the pandemic. The state Department of Managed Health Care will soon issue new regulations requiring health insurers to pay for coronavirus testing for most patients, state officials said Tuesday. They hope the move will lead to large hospitals, clinics and other health care providers conducting more testing at a time the public needs it the most. (Ho, 7/14)

The state is now opening 18 new drive-up coronavirus testing sites in places as far abreast as South Portland and Presque Isle as part of a previously announced expansion to the state’s overall ability to detect the disease. Seven organizations have partnered with the state to run those federally funded sites, some of which have already opened. The rest are expected to open in the next two weeks, complementing approximately 40 other testing sites that have already been operating around the state, the Mills administration announced Tuesday. (Eichacker, 7/14)

For businesses that have reopened to customers, there are few federal mandates specific to COVID-19. State restrictions have been relaxed since earlier in the pandemic, and enforcement has been light. Crucially, there are few hard-and-fast legal requirements for how businesses must respond if employees test positive. Many can remain open and don’t have to inform all employees or customers. (Yamanouchi and Hallerman, 7/13)

Kaiser Health News: Conspiracy Theories Aside, Here’s What Contact Tracers Really Do

In the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic, contact tracing is downright buzzy, and not always in a good way.Contact tracing is the public health practice of informing people when they’ve been exposed to a contagious disease. As it has become more widely employed across the country, it has also become mired in modern political polarization and conspiracy theories. (Appleby, 7/15)