COUNTY EXPANDS VIRUS TESTING AT SDSU AS CASES RISE

University’s Alumni Center will be able to offer 1,000 tests daily for nearly week starting on Monday

County officials are doubling the number of coronavirus tests they currently offer at San Diego State University, where COVID-19 cases are continuing to climb.

Although the increase is only temporary — it will last about a week — it ups the total number of tests available at the SDSU Alumni Center from 500 to 1,000. The site will be operating at the higher capacity from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Monday through Friday next week. It’s also open to the public as well as students and staff members, and no appointment is necessary.

To fuel the expansion, the testing site at Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach will temporarily close. Testing there will resume on Sept. 28.

County officials said though SDSU was not struggling to test its students, more testing was needed to bring the situation on and off campus under control.

Since the start of the semester, 785 students have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, including 32 cases reported on Friday. The soaring total certainly contributed to the county’s case rate of 7.9 this week — a number that puts the region at risk of becoming the first county in California to drop a level in the state’s reopening tier system.

The outbreak of infections at the college has called into question UC San Diego’s decision to welcome about 7,500 undergraduates into on-campus dorms beginning this weekend.

Despite the situation at SDSU, officials at the La Jolla university have expressed confidence that they’ll be able to thwart large-scale outbreaks. Their prevention strategy includes routine testing of students and staff members as well as regular checks of the wastewater from campus buildings, where traces of the coronavirus in feces can be detected.

The university also got the go-ahead from the state this week to test cellphone technology that harnesses Bluetooth to notify users when they’ve come in contact with someone with COVID-19. Officials plan to roll out the program to a few thousand people at the beginning of next week, with a full launch expected by Thursday.

Across the county, the coronavirus continues to spread. County officials reported 388 more cases on Friday, including the 32 that involve SDSU students, and three new deaths.

The victims were identified as a 76-year-old man, an 87-year-old man and a 94year-old man. They died between Sept. 10 and Sept 16, and all had existing medical conditions.

Officials also reported three new community-setting outbreaks: one in a business, one at a restaurant/bar and one in a grocery store location. In the last week, the county has investigated 22 such outbreaks.

For now, the county remains in the state’s red tier, but if the region’s current case rate of 7.9 per 100,000 residents doesn’t fall by next week, we could land in the more restrictive purple tier.

Such a regression would force restaurants, churches, movie theaters, museums and gyms to cease indoor activity.

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com