Vice President Mike Pence to meet with Governor Inslee in Olympia Thursday



OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Vice President Mike Pence, who's heading the Trump administration's response to the nation's novel coronavirus outbreak, is traveling to Olympia Thursday.

Washington state is at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., largely due to the virus's rapid spread at LifeCare Center, a Kirkland nursing home.

Pence said he'll be in Olympia to meet with Gov. Jay Inslee as the state ups its coronavirus response.



As of Wednesday morning, 10 people in Washington state have died of COVID-19, seven of those directly connected to the LifeCare facility in Kirkland.

There were 39 presumptive positive cases statewide as of Wednesday morning, but that number is expected to rise daily as more tests are processed.

Pence said on Tuesday evening said that "any American can be tested" for the novel coronavirus, though here in Washington state, that hasn't been the case.

Pence said in an off-camera briefing at the White House that there was new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control that any American could be tested -- "no restrictions, subject to doctors' orders."

Health care providers in western Washington have said there are not nearly enough kits to test everyone who wants or needs to be tested.