Getting tested for COVID-19 on the Central Coast? You may have to wait a week for results
State-sponsored coronavirus test sites are struggling to keep up with demand in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties as officials push for widespread COVID-19 testing.
California has been increasing its daily testing capacity to more than 80,000 per day.
San Luis Obispo County must average 150 tests a day for seven days in order to meet state criteria to remain open. The county public health department has exceeded that by having the capacity to test more than 550 people per day, including at state-run clinics, according to the public health department. Private health labs are not included in that count.
While the county has met the testing criteria, San Luis Obispo County is expected to be added to a state “watch list” after exceeding the state’s COVID-19 case rate criteria over the weekend. Over the last 14 days, the county’s case rate was about 114 COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people, according to a Tuesday news release.
At least 25,534 tests had been conducted in San Luis Obispo County between private and county health labs at of Tuesday. The county Public Health Department is responsible for 6,050 of those tests, including those performed at pop-up clinics and at state-sponsored test sites in Grover Beach and San Luis Obispo, according to ReadySLO.org.
But over the past week or so, state-run testing sites have been increasingly booked, according to San Luis Obispo County health officials. That’s led to longer wait times for appointments.
As of noon Tuesday, the soonest available COVID-19 test appointment in the county was on July 17 — 10 days away.
In addition to longer wait times for tests, results may take longer to come in than before.
When the state-sponsored test sites first opened in mid-May, the turn-around time for results was around three to five business days. Now most people are reportedly waiting up to seven days before results come in.
“All commercial labs are reporting a surge in testing. Therefore we are seeing results in four to seven business days,” county public health department spokesperson Michelle Shoresman wrote in an email to The Tribune.
According to Shoresman, people with coronavirus symptoms and asymptomatic people who have come into contact with a person who has COVID-19 are expected to isolate until test results are in — even if it takes a full week.
Despite the surge in testing, San Luis Obispo County is still allowing anyone, with or without symptoms, to get tested.
However, that is no longer the case in Santa Barbara County.
In Santa Barbara County, there are two-week-long wait times for testing appointments — and results that can take another week, according to Noozhawk.com.
Even though three Santa Barbara County facilities can each test 130 people daily, and are open five days a week, there were delays getting test results from the start, which public health officials have called unacceptable on multiple occasions.
Now, Santa Barbara County health officials have had to revert back to asking residents to only be tested if they have symptoms or have been exposed to someone with the new coronavirus.
“The big increase in testing and also people adopting it and wanting a test backfired in a way I didn’t anticipate, and the state didn’t anticipate, that it would cause such a backlog in testing,” said Dr. Henning Ansorg, Santa Barbara County’s public health officer.
The state testing standard to meet reopening metrics is 675 tests a day for a county Santa Barbara’s size, which has been met for the past three weeks, Noozhawk reported.
As of Monday, there had been 50,029 COVID-19 tests conducted in Santa Barbara County, according to the county public health department.
But the test results aren’t helpful when delayed for so long.
“It ended up we have a lot of test results we only get after eight days or later, and that defeats the purpose completely,” Ansorg said. “You want the test results as fast as possible, so you can tell them they’re positive and isolate them so it doesn’t spread.”
Ansorg told Noozhawk on Monday that the long wait times and delayed results are problematic because people without symptoms are unlikely to stay home and isolate for a week while they wait for results — so testing non-sick people becomes “sort of useless” — and it slows down results for people who really need the test.
“There is a change in messaging, and it’s out of necessity,” he said. “It’s not what I would like to happen, but we just have to make that change to be able to make testing meaningful.”
Contact tracing and isolating only works if test results come back quickly, he added.
Where to get tested quickly
While state-sponsored testing may be delayed, Shoresman said there are other San Luis Obispo County locations that people can get a coronavirus test.
The county’s website has a list of urgent care clinics that test for the virus that causes COVID-19. And local residents with primary care providers can call their doctors to ask if they test for coronavirus.
More information is available at ReadySLO.org.
A state-sponsored pop-up clinic will be available 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wedneaday and Thursday at the Pavillion on the Lake in Atascadero.
In addition to the pop-up testing events, free COVID-19 testing is available at ongoing sites in Grover Beach and San Luis Obispo.
▪ Grover Beach: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Ramona Garden Park, 993 Ramona Ave.
▪ San Luis Obispo: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Veterans Memorial Hall, 801 Grand Ave.
To make an appointment for a state-sponsored test site, call 888-634-1123 or visit emergencySLO.org/testing.
Shoresman said anyone with severe symptoms or anyone who requires urgent medical attention should go to their closest emergency room.
Ansorg also encouraged Santa Barbara County residents with COVID-19 symptoms or known exposure to a positive person to get tested at hospitals, doctor’s offices, urgent care centers and county clinics for faster test results.
