The North Dakota Army National Guard on Saturday began providing rapid coronavirus testing to people arriving at Hector International Airport in Fargo.
The tests were being offered for free to people on arriving flights in an effort to catch new infections from spreading in the community. The tests are expected to take 15 minutes to give a result.
Over the last two weeks, North Dakota has seen a 68% decline in the average number of new cases reported each day. An average of about 199 new cases was reported each day over the last week. The Department of Health reported 133 people had tested positive during testing completed Friday.
The number of people hospitalized by the virus also declined to 111, but health officials reported four deaths among people who contracted COVID-19. That brought the total number of deaths to 1,264. The state has seen the nation’s fourth-highest rate of deaths per capita over the course of the pandemic.
