3-D printing and snowmobiles helped Alaska stave off coronavirus testing shortage

When coronavirus cases were surging in the United States earlier this summer, Alaska was testing more people than any other state in America, The Wall Street Journal reports. It's now second, behind only Rhode Island, and it has the lowest number of COVID-19 deaths per capita in the nation. Sure, Alaska's population of 730,000 is relatively small, but testing is still a challenge considering the state's vastness. So, Alaskans got creative, the Journal reports.

Coronavirus testing samples need to be refrigerated, a difficult task when moving them from remote communities across "the barren expanses of Alaska." To keep them cold, some tests taken in fishing communities were placed in refrigerated boxes normally used to transport fish, while others were reportedly kept cool in the noses of airplanes. Snowmobiles and trucks were also used to transport the samples.

The big commercial laboratories conducting many tests in the U.S. don't operate in Alaska, the Journal notes, and the state subsequently had a tough time getting swabs. The solution was to strike a contract with a local manufacturer that used 3-D printing technology to produce plastic swabs, which were then processed in Alaska's own public health labs.

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Some other examples of ingenuity include when the state's largest rural airline declared bankruptcy and grounded its fleet in April. Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corp. — a tribal organization that administers health care to Alaskans living in rural communities — scrambled to charter private flights and trained local health care workers to administer tests to account for the tests and samples it couldn't deliver without the aid of the airline.

The state has also increasingly deployed rapid tests in rural communities to avoid what would otherwise be lengthy turnaround times. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.