CORONADO TO DEVELOP ITS OWN COVID-19 ANTIBODY TESTING PROGRAM

City plans to work with Sharp, not county, fearing delay

CORONADO

Sharp Coronado Hospital and the city are working together to develop a coronavirus antibody testing program, elected officials announced this week.

The program, which is still in the conceptual phase, would involve Coronado partnering with the hospital to provide Fda-approved tests. The hospital would administer the tests while the city would provide logistical support, such as facilities, City Manager Blair King said.

More details will be available in the coming weeks.

Coronado’s City Council unanimously approved a framework for the testing program Tuesday. The council directed staff to begin developing the program with a hospital.

Under the current version of the program, the city wouldn’t pay for any of the testing procedures. It would be up to individuals or third parties to cover the costs, which are about $70 or $80, according to a staff report.

The report noted that the testing program likely wouldn’t lift any of the state and county health restrictions in Coronado, but it could provide residents with peace of mind in troubling times by giving them the option of knowing whether they’ve already had COVID-19.

“If you have it and you are not feeling any symptoms, you might feel a little better,” said Councilman Whitney Benzian. “You’re not sitting up at night a month later wondering, am I going to get it?”

Currently, there are two main types of coronavirus tests: diagnostic tests to see if you have COVID-19, or antibody tests to determine whether you’ve already had the novel coronavirus. The antibody tests are also known as serology tests.

County health officials have protocols of who can receive diagnostic tests. For the most part, it is people who show symptoms and have been exposed to contaminated individuals. People who meet those requirements need to get tested through their primary care doctor.

The antibody tests are different.

Several cities and private companies have tried to operate drive-thru antibody test clinics with varying results. Part of the problem with those tests is that few are FDA approved, which leads them to produce false negatives and false positives.

Councilman Mike Donovan pointed out that false positives come from the fact that the common cold is a type of coronavirus. False negatives come from the fact that it takes some time for the body to develop antibodies, even if you had the virus. So if you are tested before the antibodies build up, the results could be negative.

Earlier this month, county health officials shut down an antibody clinic at Mira Costa College for offering tests that weren’t FDA approved.

While there are many Fda-certified antibody tests in the market, there are currently few Fda-approved tests out there.

With this in mind, elected officials in Coronado said they would only move forward with the city’s testing program with an Fda-approved test. The city would likely rely on expertise from Sharp Coronado.

Mayor Richard Bailey pointed out that testing will be a vital piece of reopening the country.

“We’ve seen over the past few weeks that far and wide, all of the medical professionals are suggesting that testing will be part of the puzzle to reopening the economy, reopening the activities we all enjoy,” he said.

Before the unanimous vote of approval, not every member of the City Council was in agreement regarding the level of coordination between Coronado and county health officials.

Councilman Bill Sandke believed it was important for the city to work closely with county health officials.

“I don’t think we should be doing anything that isn’t done in conjunction with the County’s Health Office,” he said.

“I want them vetting what we’re doing,” he added.

Bailey agreed that the city should keep the county informed. However, he thought getting the county involved early could cause delays.

“The challenge with doing that now is that if the county does not have a protocol already in place then we would be delaying our partnership with Sharp who, I think given their medical [expertise], is more than capable of administering these tests.”

At a later date, if and when the county rolls out its testing protocol, Bailey said the city’s program can likely roll up with it.

“I think we keep the motion clean right now, recognizing that it would be our intention to partner with the county or to allow the county to leverage our program to provide testing in the community,” he said.

Benzian noted that the mayor is in constant communication with Supervisor Greg Cox, who would presumably let Coronado know if the county has any issues with its testing program.

“If he saw a real issue with that, I imagine he’d let us know,” Benzian said. “That’s why I’m comfortable with it.”

Ultimately, Sandke came on board.

“I’m still going to support it because I support testing, he said. “But I think it’s really incumbent on us to coordinate this program through County Health or we’re running a risk and I don’t think that’s being responsible. But I don’t think Sharp is going to do something outside the county protocols, so I’m comfortable with moving forward on this motion.”

gustavo.solis@sduniontribune.com