On Wednesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced  a state-wide pandemic mitigation strategy considered a “breakthrough” since it will allow for every symptomatic person to be tested for coronavirus, with capacity for as many as 20,000 Minnesotans per day, according to a Newsweek article posted yesterday afternoon.

In a Wednesday press briefing, Gov. Walz, the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota (U of M) together launched the new widespread testing strategy that will isolate confirmed cases, expand public health surveillance tools and will test all symptomatic individuals.

“While Minnesota faces a challenge, we rise up—together,” Walz said. “I’m proud to partner with Minnesota’s innovative health care systems and leading research institutions to pioneer how states can begin to move forward amid Covid-19.”

Gov. Walz also said the new strategy will deliver capacity to conduct 20,000 coronavirus and 15,000 antibody tests per day.

The funding will come, in part, from $36 million in state funding established by the state government and approved by Walz, according to the article. 

Minnesota has 2,721 confirmed cases of COVID-19 out of 49,344 tests, but health officials believe each confirmed case could carry up to 100 undiscovered cases as many infected are asymptomatic. 

The stay-at-home order in Minnesota has been extended to May 4.