‘Wasting this precious commodity’: Hundreds of no-shows for Sacramento coronavirus testing
More than three weeks ago, Sacramento County opened up its first public drive-through coronavirus testing site at Cal Expo with the promise of testing hundreds of people each day.
But nurses and doctors running the site have seen fewer and fewer patients showing up to appointments secured through Verily, the private clinical research company helping operate the testing in coordination with state and local officials.
Up to 350 people can be processed every day, but on average, only about 250 people actually drive up, said Erica Havey, a registered nurse with Sacramento County who’s been collecting samples at Cal Expo. That’s even with the county and Verily overbooking by about 30 percent.
“We’re essentially wasting this precious commodity that we have,” said county spokeswoman Janna Haynes. “The more people that need to be tested that can come through here the better.”
Public health experts and officials have belabored the importance of COVID-19 testing as a key way to understand the scope of the virus spread and better allocate healthcare resources.
The message is clear: If you’ve got an appointment, show up. If you think you qualify, sign up.
Sacramento County residents can see if they’re eligible for testing by using Verily’s screening website and filling out a questionnaire, at projectbaseline.com/study/covid-19.
Who can use program
Initially, the program prioritized people at high risk for COVID-19, with a focus on health care workers and first responders. Earlier this month, county officials and Verily widened up the testing so anyone with mild to moderate symptoms could qualify for testing.
County public health officials worry that the word hasn’t gotten out enough on its expanded testing. There are other possible issues — if someone has already filled out a questionnaire with Verily using a specific email account and didn’t qualify the first time, they can’t re-take the questionnaire, even if they have since developed symptoms.
“It’s kind of tapered off,” Havey said. “I don’t even know if people know we’re doing drive-thru testing.”
In the last few weeks, Havey said she’s seen all kinds of people driving up in cars to get swabbed for testing — “elderly people, 20-somethings with their parents.” Some arrive coughing or with a runny nose, or a little sweaty looking, she said.
About 5 to 10 percent of those people who have gotten tested at Cal Expo have tested positive, said Hannah Aalborg, the county’s health program coordinator.
That’s “substantial,” said Jamie White, the county’s epidemiology program manager. “It’s what we’re hoping for, that we’re targeting the people who are most at-risk.”
Testing helps track spread
Public health officials have repeatedly emphasized the importance of testing for the coronavirus, even as nationwide shortages of essential testing materials have hindered efforts across hospitals public health labs.
Widespread testing helps give epidemiologists, clinicians and public health officials important data — creating a clearer picture of where the spread is occurring and who is most affected. It also helps hospitals and healthcare workers figure out quickly how to use precious resources like isolation rooms and protective equipment.
In Sacramento County, there are at least 853 confirmed infections and 32 fatalities from COVID-19, the disease caused by the highly contagious coronavirus, as of an update just before 10 a.m. Wednesday. More than 216,000 have been tested statewide, with more than 24,000 of those testing positive.
Testing for the coronavirus is currently done across a patchwork of systems — the county public health lab does about 50 tests a day, other local health entities do 200 to 300 a day, county health director Dr. Peter Beilenson said last week. The test samples from the Cal Expo site are analyzed by Quest Diagnostics.
For now, the testing facility at Cal Expo will run through the end of April. After that, it’s unclear — county and state officials along with private testing companies are still talking about what the next step might be.
That could mean expanding the pool of people to test for COVID-19, including those with zero symptoms, or running immunity tests if they become more widely available.
“It relies upon resources that are available,” Aalborg said, such as testing materials like chemical reagent and swabs. “Personal protective equipment is also another need. We can’t run this and not make sure people are still protected.”
The testing program at Cal Expo is a joint effort between Verily, a part of Google’s parent company Alphabet, the California Department of Public Health, the California Office of Emergency Services and Sacramento County’s public health department.
The Bee’s Tony Bizjak contributed to this story.
This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 5:00 AM.