Though coronavirus testing has drastically improved since the pandemic’s spring beginnings, health officials stressed Thursday that it is just one component of overall prevention that needs public buy-in to truly be effective.

“We really need to focus on what we know works,” Eric France, the chief medical office for the state Department of Public Health and Environment, said at a press conference Thursday. “We need to emphasize the importance of social distancing, handwashing, wearing a mask, avoiding gatherings, so that we don’t have to depend solely on testing results for the way that we manage things.”

France and other public health officials discussed the advancements in testing during the virtual media gaggle, but stressed repeatedly that it was not the “be all and end all.”

Still, the growth in the state’s testing capability is significant: In the spring, testing was often limited to those who were symptomatic or were in a priority group because of a national shortage of supplies. In March, April and May, for instance, state and private labs never processed more than 8,000 Colorado samples on any day. The highest single-day total by the end of April was roughly 5,200.

Now, the state regularly processes more than 10,000 samples a day. It’s frequently over 15,000. On both Oct. 8 and 9, the labs processed more than 22,000 samples. As a result, the percentage of tests that are positive has dropped. At one point when testing was limited, more than one in five tests were positive. Now, it’s just over 4%.

France said Coloradans needed to “change our culture” and continue to pursue testing.

“We need to all step up and take on the accountability and maybe the moral requirement of being tested if we have symptoms,” he said.

He said that while the majority of tests are accurate and provide either legitimate positive or negatives, there can still be false results. He said those inaccurate tests can have serious implications.

He threw out an example of a nursing home: A resident who’s given a false positive can be placed in isolation unnecessarily, and a resident’s family member who’s given a false negative can then visit the facility and put that community at risk.

Though the proportions may be small, the overall total of inaccurate results will grow as more testing occurs; that’s why it’s important to continue masking and social distancing and not rely solely on whether you’ve tested positive or negative.

France said it’s important to get tested if you’ve been exposed or are symptomatic and to isolate for 14 days, even if you test negative.

Emily Travanty, the interim director of the state health lab, said that the main PCR test is the “gold standard.” More rapid tests often need confirmation from that main test, which takes longer and is processed within a lab. 

The state still does not have the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s combined flu and COVID test, which will play a key role in fighting the potential of a “twindemic” of the two respiratory diseases.

Travanty said the health department was working to “stand up” a program to begin administering those tests and that Colorado is expecting to receive a supply of the testing supplies. She said individual clinics and hospitals will also have access to those materials.