This story is being offered free of charge as a public service. Please consider a subscription to the Statesman Journal so we can continue to offer stories like this. Thank you.

As hundreds of Oregon doctors called for "expansive" testing for the novel coronavirus, Gov. Kate Brown's office pointed to supply chain issues with labs and foot-dragging by the federal government, and insisted the most "urgent" patients can be tested.

Oregon is facing potentially 75,000 cases of the respiratory virus by mid-May unless dramatic measures are taken to slow its spread, according to the state epidemiologist. Brown last week canceled public gatherings of more than 250 people and closed schools starting Monday.

But widespread testing is not available for Oregonians who have come into contact with the virus or could.

Experts have said that testing is key to understanding the scope of the virus. Even those people who don't show symptoms, or have mild symptoms, can spread the virus to elderly people and others at higher risk of getting sick.

But a combination of factors, including lack of equipment and bureaucratic hurdles, have largely kneecapped testing in the U.S.

On Friday, President Donald Trump said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a test developed by a Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche. Trump claimed up to 500,000 tests could be "available early next week."

Coronavirus coverage:3 new COVID-19 cases reported in Yamhill, Deschutes, Linn counties

Meantime, Brown said that efforts are underway to increase the number of tests available to Oregonians.

By how much? It's not clear.

State working with five labs

The state's health authority has certified five labs to test for COVID-19. But the labs are still waiting to get necessary supplies, said Nik Blosser, Brown's chief of staff.

Blosser is Brown's most senior adviser, but noted, dryly, that he also has designated himself "chief policy adviser for testing capacity." He said he spent part of Thursday working the phones, calling each of the five labs.

"I think people just need to understand: they're trying to get online," Blosser said Friday. "One is trying to get online as soon as next week."

For instance, one provider Blosser talked to has four different types of lab machines that it could run tests.

That particular lab has ordered the reagents — chemical compounds used to analyze specimens — for each of those machines. The lab will start doing tests as soon as the first necessary reagent arrives, Blosser said.

Coronavirus in Oregon:Senior care homes defend the most vulnerable from COVID-19

Each of the four machines is able to do a different number of tests. And that's why the lab couldn't tell Blosser how many tests they can run: because they don't know when key supplies will arrive, or in what order.

The governor's office won't name the labs.

Blosser also said the labs "are desperately scared of lots of healthy people showing up and them not being able to prioritize who gets tested."

"And so that is why the disclosure of who these labs are has not been made yet, because we're really trying to figure out how best to triage the available tests," Blosser said. "There will not be the capacity to run four million tests next week."

Doctors push for more aggressive efforts

Hundreds of Oregon doctors wrote to Brown on Thursday, March 12, urging her to take strong steps to respond to the outbreak.

They called for "expansive, safely executed, reliable testing."

The doctors pointed to Seattle, where the University of Washington's medical system is conducting drive-through tests for COVID-19 for its health care employees.

"We must be able to identify infected individuals to care for them and take steps to decrease risk to others," the doctors wrote to Brown. "Mobile, drive-through testing must be instituted and preferably self-testing at-home kits ... testing needs to happen outside of the (emergency room) and hospitals as much as possible."

Hospitals need to be able to test patients through commercial labs, the doctors wrote.

Oregon's current capacity to test

The state's public health lab in Hillsboro can only conduct about 80 tests for the virus per day.

Until Friday, when Trump announced the FDA's approval of the Roche test, only one test for the virus had been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Brown said.

"The test we have had up until this very moment is very complex," Brown told reporters. "The FDA hasn't approved any other tests until this morning, or any tests that will enable us to increase the volume of testing."

Brown said the state has enough tests to "fulfill the most urgent needs" -- for instance, to test residents and workers at a veterans' home in Lebanon struck by the virus.

Coronavirus coverage:First Oregon death due to COVID-19 reported

"That is very different than what we need more broadly in the general population," Brown said. "And I will just tell you that the federal government's action today is too little, too late. It's been extremely inadequate."

However, in a March 3 letter to Vice President Mike Pence, Brown said the state had 1,500 lab kits on hand to test for the virus and didn't need any more from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At the time, the state had three presumed positive cases of the virus and was monitoring 86 other people.

"At that point in time, we did not have a need for additional kits," Brown said. "We thought we had the testing we needed to address the situation."

Story continues below map.

Testing at hospitals and OHSU

While Brown's office said Wednesday that state health officials had reached an "agreement" with five hospital systems to stand up testing for COVID-19, spokespeople from the Oregon Health Authority did not respond to inquiries Thursday or Friday about which hospitals were standing up their ability to test people.

The Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, which lobbies on behalf of Oregon hospitals, refused to identify or confirm hospitals that were getting the testing up off the ground.

You asked us tons of questions about the coronavirus. We're answering them.

“Hospitals across Oregon are working with public health agencies to serve the needs of their local communities, including expanding testing beyond that offered by public health and commercial labs," spokesman Michael Cox said in a written statement. "That testing capacity will come on line in the coming weeks. As testing comes on line, hospitals that perform testing will continue to give important information to the patients they serve.”

If it has enough supplies, Oregon Health and Science University is preparing to conduct tests for 40 to 150 specimens of COVID-19 as soon as Tuesday, said spokesman Erik Robinson. Multiple specimens can come from one patient.

The university "will scale up in subsequent weeks, in anticipation of a significant influx of critically ill patients requiring testing," Robinson said.

Story continues below gallery.

"Across our Providence facilities in Oregon — including our labs — we are ramping up to meet the needs of our communities," said Gary Walker, spokesman for Providence Health and Services. "We expect to have additional information about testing next week."

COVID-19 updates:Where Salem-area families can find free grab-and-go kids meals during school shutdown

"We anticipate some test kits to arrive early next week and we are actively developing workflows to ensure appropriate use of this very limited supply of COVID-19 test kits," said Elijah Penner, a spokesman for Salem Health, in a statement. "Because we will not have enough kits to test everyone who will likely wish to be tested, we will be adhering to strict screening criteria."

People who believe they are suffering from COVID-19 should contact their primary care provider, Penner said. He added that testing for the virus is not available in the emergency room and only those with medical emergencies should go to the ER.

Claire Withycombe is a reporter at the Statesman Journal. Contact her at cwithycombe@statesmanjournal.com, 503-910-3821 or follow on Twitter @kcwithycombe.