There were three people out of 368 who tested positive for the new coronavirus in Gladstone and another three people out of 367 who tested positive in Amidon during the state’s “drive-through testing” drive over the weekend, Gov. Doug Burgum announced at his daily briefing on Wednesday.

Of those who tested positive in Gladstone and Amidon, about half reported no symptoms of the illness. One of those people was in direct contact with someone with underlying health conditions who would be at higher risk of complications if he or she caught the coronavirus. Fortunately, that person has tested negative for the illness and can now be separated from the person who tested positive.

Burgum said that could mean that there are more people out there who have coronavirus who do not have symptoms. These results are considered significant because asymptomatic carriers of the illness can unknowingly spread the virus to large segments of the community.

The drive-through testing, which was voluntary, was intended to get a baseline reading of a population in an area that had nearly zero previous reports of coronavirus. Burgum said the state health department wanted to test more broadly, particularly in an area where there were few identified cases of the coronavirus.

The testing results could be used to help plan for testing for the virus in other areas of the state.

Burgum said there were an additional 14 cases of the virus identified as of Tuesday out of 835 tests.

That makes 251 positive cases in the state. Of those, 98 people have recovered and four have died. Thirty-four people have had to be hospitalized but only 16 remain hospitalized.

Burgum said so far the state has identified 2,600 hospital beds in the state that would be available for coronavirus patients and only 16 are currently occupied by coronavirus patients.

There are concerns about mini hot spots in the state where there are more cases of coronavirus. One area of concern is in Mountrail County, where there are now 20 identified cases of coronavirus. The state will work with tribal and county officials to help head off the spread of coronavirus, the governor said.

Burgum also announced that four businesses in the state are now manufacturing hand sanitizer locally, two in the Bismarck/Mandan area, one in Fargo and one in Grand Forks.

Burgum also issued a new executive order cutting red tape that had prevented the North Dakota University System from donating medical supplies and protective equipment such as face masks to the health department. Departments such as food service and athletics had extra supplies that they wanted to donate.

Burgum also offered guidance indicating that a rule requiring people to go into a two week quarantine if they have traveled to North Dakota from a state that has been identified as the site of a coronavirus outbreak does not apply to essential workers or to people who live in one state and work in another. It also would not apply to someone who lives in one state but crosses the state line to fill a prescription or pick up the mail. Burgum said common sense should be the rule people follow. People from out of state who travel to North Dakota for the upcoming walleye season will also be exempted from the rule but must maintain their distance from others fishing.

The quarantine requirement does apply to “snowbirds” who have returned to North Dakota from a winter in Arizona or people who have been on spring break in a hot spot.