Testing site to move as Lodi Library readies for reopening

The OptumServe COVID19 testing site at the Lodi Library will be moving to a new location Monday morning.

The San Joaquin County Joint Information Center announced Friday afternoon that the testing will reopen at 19 S. Central St., the former home of the Joseph Serna Jr. Elementary School.

Signage will be posted on site to guide those with appointments to the testing area, the county said.

The new location will be open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The move will allow the Lodi Library to plan to reopen to the public after a full year of closure, the county said.

Anwan Baker, the City of Lodi’s interim Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services director, said plans are being prepared to reopen the library in the coming weeks.

“We are excited to be moving forward to reopen the library,” he said. “Especially with children returning to school, we want to provide access to our collection and materials they otherwise wouldn’t be able to access at home. We want to do everything we can to support children and their education.”

Baker said his department must retrofit the library’s service desk with Plexiglas, as well as install the barriers in both computer areas for youth and adults.

A timeline and reopening date has not been determined.

The OptumServe testing site opened on April 29 of last year, one of 80 state-funded sites to serve underserved communities in California.

Testing for COVID-19 remains an essential component for the county to move through the California Department of Public Health’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy and allow more local businesses to reopen and activities to resume. The county currently tests about 2,400 people a day, and health officials said they need to test an additional 700 people a day to meet the new COVID19 case rate metric of less than 10 cases per 100,000 residents.

Currently, the county’s new case rate is 10.2 per 100,000 residents, and is one of three counties still in the purple tier. Health officials hope to be promoted to the red tier on Tuesday.

Appointment requests for the Lodi testing center can be made online through

https://lhi.care/covidtesting, or by calling 888-634-1123.