Senators Question Gov. Cooper on NC’s Near-Last Place Testing Volume

WFAE report: “North Carolina now ranks 45th out of 50 states when it comes to testing”

Raleigh, N.C. — WFAE reported yesterday that North Carolina “ranks 45th out of 50 states when it comes to testing.”

Today, 16 North Carolina senators questioned Gov. Cooper on the reason for the near-last-place ranking.

The text of the letter is copied below. Read the full letter here.

Dear Governor Cooper,

We read with some alarm a recent story from WFAE about North Carolina’s near-worst-in-the-nation testing rate. According to WFAE’s data analysis, North Carolina ranks 45th out of 50 states in testing per-capita.

Other states are leaving us in the dust. They have a more robust testing infrastructure despite facing the same supply chain constraints as North Carolina.

Why has North Carolina fallen behind? What is your administration doing to increase testing volume? Why have other states managed to more successfully navigate the supply chain difficulties facing the entire world?

With respect, all we have heard from your administration are optimistic public pronouncements about how testing volume has increased. But clearly, that rosy rhetoric concealed a much more pessimistic reality.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Transparency and honesty are needed most during a crisis. It is troubling that your administration has not been forthcoming about our near-last-in-the-nation testing status, and has instead sought to spin a different narrative to the press and the public that appears detached from the reality of the data.

We would appreciate a prompt response to the questions we’ve posed in this letter, and we would also appreciate a more forthright public posture on our state’s successes and failures so the public has a full understanding of our situation moving forward.