Local testing continues to expand
Access to COVID-19 testing in Monterey County is expanding through public-private partnerships as people experience lengthy delays in getting an appointment at existing testing sites and in getting results back.
On Tuesday, county health officials announced an agreement had been reached with the Central Coast Visiting Nurses Association to provide a series of “pop-up” testing sites in areas of the county where testing is not as readily available. The private non-profit organization started offering county-funded free testing for up to 100 people per day at the Monterey County Free Libraries Castroville branch, 11160 Speegle St., this week and will be open on Thursday from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. this week and next, as well as Wednesday next week from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Subsequent CCVNA testing sites could target areas such as Marina and Seaside and far South County in communities like San Ardo.
Also, Natividad is offering a free one-day pop-up drive-through testing site on Thursday starting at 10 a.m. at Lower Presidio Historic Park in Monterey, after offering similar sites in Seaside, Marina, Castroville, Chualar and King City.
The new testing sites should help the county boost its statewide ranking in daily tests per 100,000 residents, where the county ranked 36th out of 58 counties according to the state Department of Public Health on Wednesday.
The county is currently conducting an average of about 652 tests per day, or about 151.6 per 100,000 population, according to the state, fewer than the 682 daily tests the county claimed in its attestation form submitted in May.
In addition to statebacked OptumServe sites in Salinas and Greenfield, which both require an appointment, the county offers testing capacity through its public health laboratory and
local hospitals, as well as the new pop-up sites.
County health spokeswoman Karen Smith told The Herald it’s important to expand testing capacity to allow people who want to be tested quicker access, noting that there have been reports that the two OptumServe sites have been so busy that people have had to wait for weeks for an appointment to be tested, as well as quicker access to test results as delays due to shortages of testing materials and lab capacity as a result of the demand that has pushed processing times to a week or more.
While the county public health lab takes about three days to process specimens and produce results, Smith said the state lab and commercial labs are considerably slower.
“We’re doing our best,” Smith said. “We’re trying new things. But we understand people are frustrated.”
Smith said testing is essential to help health officials “better understand the spread of the disease and catch asymptomatic (cases)” who might not have
been discovered without expanded community testing, as well as those they have been in contact with to determine how the disease spreads. Results can also help determine responses including non-pharmaceutical interventions such as quarantining or isolating those testing positive for the diseases especially in certain areas where overcrowded housing makes it more difficult if not impossible.
Private entities have also stepped up to offer additional local testing, including the Planned Parenthood Mar Monte site at Monterey Peninsula College and the Grower Shipper Association in partnership with Clinica de Salud aimed at Salinas Valley farmworkers.
Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Lupe Rodriguez said demand has been so high at the college drivethrough site that they have regularly had to turn people away after reaching the site’s 100-test daily capacity.
After starting open for four days a week, the test site is now open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., and Rodriguez said the site funded entirely by the organization is relying on staff at its local centers to work the site.
She said the current test processing time is 6-10 days due to “volume capacity” at processing labs.
Rodriguez said the site has tested more than 2,300 people since opening in May, and the organization plans to continue offering to test “as long as it is needed.”
Besides, county health lists testing sites in Watsonville, Hollister and Paso Robles as resources for county residents in the northern and southern areas of the county on its website, as well as area CVS stores. Private health care providers also often offer to test, Smith said.
On Tuesday, county health officials reported having tested nearly 35,000 people with 2,835 positive cases, 185 hospitalizations and 18 deaths. No updated numbers were available by The Herald’s deadline on Wednesday.