Scared of a painful COVID-19 test? New ‘less invasive’ method now at Cal Expo
Some people have described the COVID-19 test as akin to doctors poking and swabbing for brain cells.
Now, the Sacramento County COVID-19 testing site at Cal Expo is using a new “less invasive” method to encourage people who were avoiding the test because of the potential discomfort.
Previously, doctors and nurses would take a long swab and stick it deep into a patient’s nasal cavity, leaving some bleary-eyed, coughing and in mild pain.
Patients who take the new test at Cal Expo’s drive-through site will be handed the stick to take the sample themselves, and instructed by a nurse to swab the nostril from a “relatively shallow location,” according to a county press release Wednesday. A Bee reporter who took the COVID-19 test at Cal Expo Wednesday was told to stick the swab about an inch up his nose.
County officials hope the change might increase the number of people showing up to take the coronavirus test, which public health experts say is a key way of tracking and understanding the scope of the pandemic. The county’s public health officer is encouraging anyone, even those without COVID-19 symptoms like a fever or dry cough, to sign up for a test.
In the early weeks of more widespread county testing, hundreds of people were failing to show up to drive-through appointments scheduled at Cal Expo. Currently, about 15 percent of people who sign up for appointments fail to show up, county officials said.
Verily, the private health company partnering with the county to operate the Cal Expo site, now allows people to cancel and reschedule appointments up to three hours before their appointment through the Project Baseline online portal, according to the county press release.
Sacramento County is also offering testing at three appointment-only walk-up centers — St. Paul’s Missionary Baptist Church, Roberson Community Center and La Familia’s Maple Neighborhood Center — but those sites will not be using the new testing method.
As of last Friday, the Cal Expo site had conducted more than 10,000 tests since opening up in March.
For more information about how to sign up for a COVID-19 test and where to go, visit the Sacramento County public health department website.