Utah, New Mexico lead West in COVID-19 testing

Testing is considered a major requirement on the path back to normal, and as the president has made clear, it’s largely up to the states to find the way. Are states in the Mountain West up to the task? By multiple measures, Utah and New Mexico are leading the way, while other states are still lagging behind. 

Utah and New Mexico are onto something. As data from the COVID Tracking Project show, they’ve consistently been ranked among the top dozen states in the country for COVID-19 testing per capita. And by late April, only about 5% of those tests came back positive, which is one potential measure for gauging adequate testing capacity. 

Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said those indicators together are strong signs the states are doing a good amount of testing.