New technology is allowing testing sites run by the Wisconsin National Guard to increase the number of nasal swabs completed at each location. In conjunction with Microsoft, the Guard helped create COVID Connect, a portal that allows for those being tested to pre-register online. Captain Joe Torvato says having patients fill out the information themselves improves data accuracy, makes the overall process more efficient, and helps get results back quicker.

The National Guard first used COVID Connect in Madison. This week it will be rolled out to Milwaukee and the prison system before being adopted at other sites by the end of the month. Testing has been administered in Door and Brown Counties in the recent past by the Guard, but no requests for assistance are outstanding. Drive-through clinics like the one run by the Door County Medical Center do not utilize COVID Connect.