Answers to why it’s taking so long to get a coronavirus test result in Stanislaus County
Stanislaus County’s health officer says it should not take 15-plus days to find out if a person has the coronavirus.
And the slow testing process is hindering public health efforts to bring the COVID-19 outbreak under control. The county’s top executive officer said the No. 1 priority is faster testing so public health personnel can do their job and slow down the outbreak.
With the massive influx of people wanting a test in July, public testing sites in the county were scheduling appointments seven or eight days out and labs fell behind on testing specimens and sending the results to residents, said Royjindar Singh, an emergency operations center spokesman.
Many people didn’t know for three weeks if they were positive or negative for coronavirus. Three state and county testing sites are operated in Salida, west Modesto and Turlock.
Dr. Julie Vaishampayan, county health officer, told supervisors this week that a 15.7-day turnaround makes it hard to promote testing for people with symptoms or a recent exposure to coronavirus. A major commercial lab told the county July 30 that was the average wait for Stanislaus residents.
It hampers the ability of public health personnel to contact newly infected people and make sure they quarantine so the virus does not spread.
As people wait a long time for results, they don’t know if they can return to work or resume activities.
The Project Baseline program, operated by Verily under contract with the state, has a two-week turnaround time at many test sites, county staff told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
Verily runs the large Project Baseline facility at the Salida library, where nurses take a nasal specimen from people who drive up. Though the turnaround time is shorter at the two other public testing sites, Singh said this week it’s still taking a “very long” time for residents using the Salida site to find out if they’re positive or negative.
Singh said the test sites operated by OptumServe at the Neighborhood Center at Marshall Park and in Turlock can schedule same-day appointments, or get a person in the next day, with results provided in four to five days.
The county is aware that Verily is working on agreements with additional labs to shorten the turnaround time in Salida and its other sites in California. Verily did not respond to a request for comment.
Vaishampayan said the July surge in California placed on overwhelming demand on commercial labs that contract with state and county test sites. More than 6,000 of the county’s 11,700 total cases of COVID-19 occurred in July.
The testing process slowed down because labs were running low on supplies, resources and the reagents used in testing specimens for coronavirus.
Faced with a breakdown in testing, county public health decided it would follow up on new cases if the person is informed of test results within 11 days. Too much time has elapsed to effectively track the other cases.
Testing top issue in county-state meetings
Jody Hayes, county chief executive officer, said testing was the top issue raised in meetings last week with a state task force, which came to Modesto to assist the hard-hit county with resources for fighting the COVID-19 surge. Gov. Gavin Newsom has pledged assistance to counties in the Central Valley that are struggling with outbreaks.
Hayes said he didn’t get feedback from state officials that a solution for the testing slowdown is coming soon. “We have to be able to get timely results,” Hayes stressed, adding the county hasn’t given up on restoring the testing system.
The county has looked into direct contracting for lab services. While the state has paid for lab services for the local test sites, the county would have to cover the costs under its own contract with a lab. It has received millions in federal funding for battling the coronavirus.
With an adequate testing system, the county’s 75-member contact tracing team, working the phones, could make sure people testing positive are not spreading the virus and could slow new waves of infection this fall or later. The county is looking into a contract with a vendor to supply 50 additional contact tracers who would work remotely.
Singh said the county needs a workable testing system as the coronavirus remains the top health threat. “We are trying to work with the state to find other labs to resolve this,” the spokesman said.
The county Agricultural Commissioner’s office has helped identify locations for mobile testing at farm labor camps and migrant centers in Westley, Ceres and Patterson. Under a county contract with American Medical Response, farm workers and their families will soon get free conventional testing closer to where they live and work.
Vaishampayan said antigen testing offering same-day results would be ideal for mobile testing of agricultural workers. “You could take it out to the fields and give them results right away,” she said.
The county is trying to implement antigen testing but the equipment is on backorder, the health officer said.
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 3:01 PM.
