By Dillon Rosenblatt | Arizona Capitol Times
Gov. Doug Ducey has been coming up short on his promises to increase testing for COVID-19 statewide, and his “Project Catapult,” a plan to ramp up testing to 35,000 results per day before August, has failed to take flight.
But Department of Health Services Director Cara Christ claimed the state is still on track to get to 60,000 tests per day by the end of August.
Christ at the July 30 press briefing also pushed back her promised deadline to clear out the 29,000 backlogged tests at Sonora Quest labs from July 31 to August 2, but the backlog has still not been fully cleared, at one point reaching 60,000 tests.
Ducey blamed private testing labs and a lack of demand for not being able to meet the goal, saying Sonora Quest needs to “step up their game”turnaround times haven’t hit capacity in the 12 days they were open.
