State reveals additional details of Coronavirus spending
May 12, 2020, 8:04 PM | Updated: Feb 7, 2023, 3:22 pm
The Utah Department of Health will be closing multiple COVID-19 test sites over the next several weeks. (KSL TV)
(KSL TV)
SALT LAKE CITY – The State of Utah has spent $108 million so far in its response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some have questioned whether that money was well-spent.
In early April, Department of Public Safety Commissioner Jess Anderson said he got word that Utah was days away from being out of swabs to test Utahns for the coronavirus.
At that point, state officials said they made a “tough decision” to buy 100,000 swabs at $15 per swab. The usual price before the pandemic was $1.25.
Anderson said they had no choice but to pay the higher price.
“It got us down the road,” he said. “It was a critical time. It was in those weeks of criticality. We had to keep testing going. We had to keep those things moving, and if we would have delayed at all, we were several weeks behind, because of that very – because we would have run out of swabs.”
The state has not seen that high of a price since.
Out of the 300 purchases Utah has made, there were at least 10 where the state has had to cancel orders because of potential price gouging or fraud.
They said this was not one of those cases.
LINK: Utah COVID-19 Expenditures
While addressing the media today about questions raised concerning multi-million dollar COVID-19 contracts, @GovHerbert said, "I stand by the collective decisions made by our state leaders." @KSL5TV #ICYMI: https://t.co/UxfQU7QooU via @BrittanyGlasTV @CindyStClair08 #COVID19Utah pic.twitter.com/1xMjTnRl34
— KSL Investigates (@KSLInvestigates) May 7, 2020
