SLO County is low on coronavirus lab materials. Here’s how patients should get tested
San Luis Obispo County Public Health officials on Tuesday announced they no longer have the capacity to test possible coronavirus patients who aren’t seriously ill or haven’t been hospitalized.
Dr. Penny Borenstein, the county’s Public Health officer, urged those with COVID-19 symptoms to contact their primary care doctors or urgent care centers and ask them to perform tests and send them to private labs.
Borenstein said her agency is running low on the extraction reagents needed to complete the COVID-19 tests. She hoped to receive additional supplies by Wednesday.
As a result of the shortage, Public Health is testing only hospital patients who’ve been admitted for treatment or seriously ill individuals receiving outpatient care in the emergency department, Borenstein said.
Public Health staff are also receiving specimens from individuals who may have had contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient and sending them off for testing.
“We have implored (private doctors) to begin participating in that process,” she said at a Tuesday news conference. “But it’s very variable across our providers.”
SLO County Public Health testing capacity
As of Tuesday afternoon, Public Health has tested 198 patients in the county for COVID-19, Borenstein said. Six patients have tested positive for the virus, and no tests were still pending.
The county has one of 22 public labs in California that’s conducting COVID-19 testing. Staff have been running the tests since March 6, and the San Luis Obispo lab has the capacity to run 50 tests per day. The tests take three to four hours to complete, and staff typically run them twice a day.
There are no private labs conducting COVID-19 testing locally, Borenstein said. Specimens would need to be shipped to labs elsewhere in the state or country, which means it would take longer to get results.
However, that testing capacity has diminished significantly due to the reagent shortage — the county has enough tests, but not enough materials to complete the tests, Borenstein said.
Those who believe they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms should not go to the emergency room and ask for a test, she said. They should first call their doctors or urgent care centers and explain their situations.
Public Health urges physicians to test for COVID-19
Providers should have all the tools they need to collect patient specimens and send them to private labs, she said.
“We’ve provided all kinds of direction for what is needed in order for the provider to take the test,” Borenstein said. “Both for materials and the protective equipment.”
Patients seeking testing who are turned away by their medical providers have few options other than seeking urgent care elsewhere.
Public Health doesn’t currently have the resources to have discussions with individual providers regarding COVID-19 testing cooperation, Borenstein said. But if there are outliers refusing to test patients down the line, Public Health officials would like to know and they may have conversations with them.
“We are trying to get the message out far and wide to our community physicians that we are asking them to be part of the solution here,” Borenstein said.
This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 7:28 PM.
