The coronavirus testing kits the Spokane Regional Health District received from the Washington Department of Health are not contaminated, Dr. Bob Lutz, county health officer, confirmed Monday.

The state health department recalled thousands of test kits due to contamination discovered in some samples collected by the University of Washington. The contamination did not affect test results, however.

Lutz said the health district has ordered 150 testing kits from the state health department in the meantime to help local long-term care facilities test residents and staff members as needed. There are six long-term care facilities in Spokane County with at least one person with COVID-19, according to state data from the Department of Social and Health Services.

The Spokane Veterans Home had an outbreak, with 24 residents and 10 staff members testing positive. One resident died from the virus. So far, all residents have been tested, along with most staff.

The majority of testing capacity in the Spokane region is conducted using both Providence and MultiCare supplies and staff at specific hospital or clinic testing sites as well as at the drive-up screening site at the Spokane County Interstate Fairgrounds.

As the daily rate of new cases and hospitalizations continues to trend downward since late March, Lutz said there is still a need for more testing capacity, especially before businesses re-open and the region moves toward fewer restrictions on gatherings. Statewide testing criteria will be broadened this week, Lutz said.

“There will be guidance coming out this week to health care providers across the state that will encourage and strongly recommend that they uniformly test any individual with symptoms of COVID-19 or if they’ve come into contact with somebody who has it,” Lutz said. He expects those new guidelines to be released in the coming days.

While testing criteria may broaden, materials to test patients are still in high demand, globally and statewide. The Department of Health could not re-stock the supply of swabs or transport tubes to health jurisdictions following the recall of kits this past weekend, although the state is expecting a large shipment of swabs to arrive this week.

In Spokane County, there are now 313 confirmed cases of COVID-19. Fifteen people are currently receiving treatment for the respiratory virus in local hospitals. So far, 17 people in the county have died; no new deaths have been recorded in the Spokane County for a week.

There are more than 12,000 COVID-19 cases confirmed statewide, with 652 deaths recorded thus far. Across Washington, 503 people with COVID-19 are receiving treatment in hospitals.

It has been less than a month since Gov. Jay Insleeissued his “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, and Lutz said he continues to be cautiously optimistic about the decline in case and hospitalization numbers.

“My big concern going forward is that there will be so much of a push to open things up that it’s a Pandora’s box,” Lutz told reporters Monday.

Rural areas in Eastern Washington may not have experienced their peak case numbers yet, health officials said on Monday. Dr. Sam Artzis, health officer of Northeast Tri County Health District, said rural regions can expect to be two to three weeks behind other regions for a peak in COVID-19 cases. There have been 11 confirmed cases in Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties.

“We may see a surge and fallout from Easter weekend,” he said on a press call Monday. “I hope I’m wrong, but I think we will see some more cases in the next few weeks.”

A small number of people turned out in Spokane over the weekend to protest restrictions due to COVID-19, while thousands turned out at the Capitol in Olympia. Lutz reiterated that while data is driving the health district’s decisions, he understands the economic impact of the prohibitions.

“It is livelihoods, but it’s also lives. It’s a balance, and when I hear or read that the data is suggesting that it’s only individuals with medical problems with lives lost, that’s discounting our grandparents, parents and people on the margins, and I think that’s irresponsible,” Lutz said. “I think it’s selfishness, pure selfishness. It’s not caring about the community or people they live and work with.”