Several free COVID-19 test sites in Sacramento County to shut down as demand subsides

Six free community test sites for COVID-19 in Sacramento County will close by the end of this month as demand declines, while the remaining seven county-partnered sites will remain open.

The following sites will close after next week, according to the county health office:

▪ Natomas Unified School District, 1931 Arena Blvd. (last day of testing on Tuesday, Feb. 22)

▪ South Sacramento Christian Center, 7710 Stockton Blvd. (Feb. 23)

▪ Oak Hills Church, 1100 Blue Ravine Road, Folsom (Feb. 23)

▪ 3990 Branch Center Road (Feb. 24)

▪ Walnut Grove Elementary School, 14181 Grove Street, Walnut Grove (Feb. 24)

▪ Fruitridge Community Collaborative, 4625 44th Street (Feb. 25)

Seven other county-partnered test sites will remain open:

▪ Robertson Community Center, 3525 Norwood Ave. (open Mondays through Saturdays)

▪ Liberty Towers Church, 5132 Elkhorn Blvd. (Mondays)

▪ La Familia Maple Neighborhood Center, 3301 37th Ave. (Mondays)

▪ Cordova Neighborhood Church, 10600 Coloma Road, Rancho Cordova (Tuesdays)

▪ Asian Resources, Inc., 6270 Elder Creek Road (Wednesdays)

▪ Chabollah Community Center, 600 Chabolla Ave., Galt (Thursdays)

▪ St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church, 3996 14th Ave. (Fridays)

Full hours for each site and test registration information are available on the county website, at saccounty.gov/COVID-19.

Health care company Curative continues to operate several free testing sites in the county, including the drive-through site at Cal Expo, which was formerly run by the county.

Testing is also available at various Raley’s locations and retail pharmacy stores in the county.

Carlos Cossio, a health program coordinator with Sacramento County, and health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said on a Wednesday call with reporters that the county is modifying testing operations amid decreasing demand as the omicron surge subsides.

At the height of the surge last month, county officials reported wait times anywhere from one to four hours at partnered test sites.

Sacramento’s daily case rate has plummeted to 35 per 100,000 as of Thursday, down from 245 per 100,000 in early January, according to the local health office data dashboard.

“We are adjusting our response based on the activities that we are seeing,” Kasirye said.

Increased access to at-home rapid test kits have also reduced demand at county test sites, Kasirye said. Those kits were difficult to come by throughout January due to extreme demand but are now more widely available for purchase online or at drug stores.

Sacramento County health officials distributed more than 90,000 free at-home test kits via public libraries in early January, and the U.S. Postal Service mailed four free test kits late last month to millions of households nationwide.

Cossio said that if another major surge or new coronavirus variant boosts the need for more than seven community testing sites in the future, a “pivot could happen pretty quickly” in reopening them.

“We’re not starting from zero,” Cossio said.

Michael McGough

The Sacramento Bee

916-326-5508

Michael McGough is a sports and local editor for The Sacramento Bee. He previously covered breaking news and COVID-19 for The Bee, which he joined in 2016. He is a Sacramento native and graduate of Sacramento State.