The Peru Gazette

From the office of Assemblyman Billy Jones

“For weeks, I, along with local officials, have been voicing concerns about testing capacity as the Governor’s directive called for increased testing as a requirement to regionally reopen, including the testing mandates for nursing homes. Now the stark reality of our worries has been realized as Wadsworth testing facility has indicated they will no longer accept tests from nursing homes, healthcare systems, and local governments. While there are 300 laboratories around the state that do this type of testing, it comes at an extreme cost.

“Our already financially stressed healthcare institutions, nursing homes, and county governments have been strapped with testing mandates that will now cost them upwards of 100 dollars a test as they are going to be forced to use private laboratories and these labs are taking advantage of this situation. Action must be taken to help control these costs; this is unacceptable, and we must find a solution to help these institutions meet the mandated requirements without placing undue financial hardships on them. I look forward to working with the executive to help find a solution to complete testing while keeping costs down.”