New coronavirus testing site opens in Santa Maria — and 2 more are on the way

The first of three new state-operated COVID-19 testing sites opened Tuesday with a full schedule of patients in Santa Maria while two more community-based sites remain ready to launch later this week.

Testing is taking place by appointment only inside a building at the Santa Maria Fairpark, 937 Thornburg St.

Two other sites will open later this week — on Thursday in Santa Barbara at Earl Warren Showgrounds and on Friday in Lompoc at the Anderson Recreation Center, 125 W. Walnut Ave.

Widespread testing of community members is seen as a key step as the communities look to ease restrictions related to the coronavirus health emergency.

“Part of moving forward is making sure we’re very vigilant in monitoring this,” Dr. Scott Robertson, chief medical officer and president of Pacific Central Coast Health Centers, told the Santa Maria City Council on Tuesday night.

“Testing is a big component of that,” he added.

The community-based testing will boost capacity by another 390 a day for 60 days.

Each site will operate five days a week with testing eventually available seven days a week throughout the county, with Santa Maria’s to eventually occur Wednesdays through Sundays, officials said.

With reports the first appointments were fully booked, a regular stream of patients—wearing various masks—showed up at the fairpark Tuesday.

A state health contractor, OptumServe, has staff conducting the testing.

“The first day of testing went very well as OptumServe, the assigned County Incident Management Team, and Public Health staff worked together,” said Jackie Ruiz, public health spokeswoman. “Community members were able to keep physical distancing while waiting to be tested.

“A great majority of residents attended their scheduled appointments and were pleased to have this option available in the community,” she said. “Those scheduled represented a variety of Central Coast cities and we are very excited to know that further opportunities for testing are forthcoming in Lompoc and Santa Barbara later this week.”

Test results will be available in 48 to 72 hours.

Each OptumServe site can do 132 tests per day, or 660 tests per site per week in addition to those conducted by private health care providers and hospitals.

Community-based testing sites will operate from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, but those times could change based on need.

Some people will have priority access to the testing, including:

• Health care workers and first responders;
• People 65 years and older;
• Anyone with chronic medical conditions;
• Residents or employees of congregate care living facilities;
• People in essential occupations, including utilities, grocery, food supply and public employees; and
• Any person exhibiting one or more symptoms of COVID-19.

During a Tuesday morning discussion at the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting, Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino asked if people without symptoms can sign up for an appointment “for your own peace of mind.”

Public health leaders confirmed anyone could request a test at the site.

The state will use the PCR (nasal swab) and will make serology, or blood, testing available in the future, using the same vendor to “pivot from the PCR to serology testing,” County Public Health Director Do-Reynoso said.

She did not provide a timeline for the start of serology testing.

Those undergoing testing at the community sites will not face any out-of-pocket expense or co-pay, and insurers of those who have coverage will be billed, county officials said.

Santa Barbara County community members can request an appointment online by clicking here or by calling 1-888-634-1123.