How Washington Acted Fast to Safeguard Seniors from COVID-19 Exposure

An engineer, Steve Verschoor serves as the head of sales at GTSP Global, a premier manufacturer of solar power components. Overseeing sales and client relationships in markets on both sides of the Pacific, Steve Verschoor has secured numerous contracts for the company. Besides GTSP, he was one of the original co-founders of Molecular Testing Labs, which was contracted by the State of Washington in early 2020 to conduct COVID-19 tests for senior home residents and staff.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the State of Washington stepped in to safeguard the lives of seniors living in senior living facilities. Because of the congregate nature of these centers and the susceptibility of their residents to severe infection, state secretary for health John Wiesman announced new orders for senior homes patient and staff testing. In the orders, all facilities were required to complete universal testing for COVID-19 on staff and residents. Those who had not yet done the tests on April 1, 2020, were required to have done them by June 12, 2020.

To ensure all facilities carried out the tests, the State of Washington partnered with Molecular Testing Labs as well as the University of Washington’s Department of Virology to conduct the testing. Molecular Testing Labs, through its validated protocols for at-home testing, sent out sample collection kits to registered facilities and coordinated the testing and results delivery processes. It then billed either the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid or the Washington State Health Care Authority.