Sites around Los Angeles County continued to expand testing capacity on Monday, Jan. 10, as the winter wave of new COVID-19 infections continued to soar to record levels.
The county Department of Health Services launched the new “Pick-Up Testing Kit” program, aimed at people who cannot get appointments at testing clinics, allowing residents to pick up a PCR test kit, perform the test and drop off the kit for processing. Results would be available within 24-48 hours, officials said.
In recent weeks, the county has added testing sites, expanded the days and hours of operation for existing sites and added mobile testing units, but long lines at testing centers have endured.
The new at-home testing program will operate out of 13 sites, where the kits will be available without an appointment while daily supplies last. The kits will test for both COVID-19 and Influenza A and B, as do the in-person testing centers around the county.
“We look forward to reducing the waiting time to get tested for individuals unable to book an appointment,” said county Director of Community Mobile Testing Operations Paula Siler. “Once all 13 Pick-Up Testing locations are fully operating and once our Home Testing Kit by mail program is simultaneously relaunched later this week, we will have successfully added over 10,000 additional daily Covid tests available to the residents of LA County.”
Details and a full listing of “Pick-Up Testing Kit” locations are available here.
Last week, the county was forced to suspend its program offering free at-home tests “due to high demand and shipping constraints.”. That program allowed residents to simply sign up through the county’s website, allowing them to get a test mailed to their home through Fulgent Genetics.
According to Fulgent, no new orders will be accepted until at least Jan. 12. Incoming samples from tests that were previously distributed are still being processed. As of Monday, the program was still listed as “temporarily paused,” but officials said it would relaunch later this week, in tandem with the new pickup program.
“We look forward to reducing the waiting time to get tested for individuals unable to book an appointment,” said Paula Siler RN, MS Director of Community Mobile Testing Operations at the LA County Department of Health Services. “Once all 13 Pick-Up Testing locations are fully operating and once our Home Testing Kit by mail program is simultaneously relaunched later this week, we will have successfully added over 10,000 additional daily COVID tests available to the residents of LA County.”
Officials cautioned that the “Pick-Up Testing Kits” are intended for residents who are experiencing symptoms or believe they have been exposed to someone with COVID-19. They should not be used by people who are testing as a requirement to return to school, work or to attend events.
The county’s in-person COVID-19 testing sites are posted here They offer tests at no out-of-pocket cost, regardless of insurance coverage or immigration status.
County officials cautioned that not all current sites are affiliated with the county; many clinics are also being operated by private companies, private health care systems and local municipalities and may charge for testing.
Of of Monday, there were at least 260 COVID-19 testing locations listed with the county.
Meanwhile, the Long Beach Health Department opened an expanded drive-thru and walk-up testing site for residents on Monday.
With the capacity to test 3,000 people a day, the public testing clinic will be located in the former Boeing parking lot, near 3590 E. Wardlow Road.
The Boeing site will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2:30 to 5 p.m. weekdays.
Additional city testing sites are at Veterans Stadium, Doris Topsy-Elvord Community Center and Cal State Long Beach.
With the opening of the Boeing site, the previous public testing site at Long Beach City College’s Pacific Coast Campus transitioned Monday to offer vaccines only, no testing.
A testing site at Cabrillo High School, 2001 Santa Fe Ave., is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays, but it is restricted solely for Long Beach Unified School District employees and students “who are symptomatic or who need a clear test to return to school following a COVID-19 infection or post-quarantine.” The Cabrillo High site will be open to the general public on weekends.
A new drive-thru COVID-19 testing center also opened Monday at the Industry Hills Expo Center at 16200 Temple Ave. in the City of Industry, operated and staffed by Total Testing Solutions. The site will feature multiple lanes with a capacity of up to 1,000 vehicles.
Dual COVID-19 PCR and Influenza A & B (flu virus) test results will be offered. The COVID site will conduct testing Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., through Jan. 31.
Appointments are strongly encouraged and can be made online at www.TotalTestingSolutions.com.
Another new COVID testing site opened over the weekend in Santa Monica — in the former Sears building at 302 Colorado Ave. — with the capacity to test up to 1,920 people daily.
Elected officials called out for stronger measures to cope with the testing crunch.
Supervisor Janice Hahn issued a statement Monday calling for the county to deploy disaster service workers and open up new testing sites at more locations — including county health clinics and libraries — to meet the growing demand.
“It is unacceptable how long our residents have had to wait or how far they have had to drive just to get tested for COVID-19 these past few weeks,” Hahn said. “L.A. County needs to treat this demand for testing with urgency. I am urging the county to deploy our disaster service workers and calling on our Department of Health Services to set up testing sites at L.A. County Libraries and health clinics.”
During earlier surges, the county pressed a wide range of employees into temporary service as emergency workers.
Sen. Alex Padilla said the federal government should be doing more.
Padilla joined Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Los Angeles, and more than 40 members of the House and Senate in sending a letter to President Joe Biden calling on the administration to ramp up the supply of rapid tests and remove financial and logistical barriers to access.
“The rapid spread of the Omicron variant over the past weeks suggests that Americans are in a dramatically more vulnerable position than we had anticipated being just last month,” the letter stated in part. “There is no time to waste, and widespread and affordable access to rapid tests will be an integral part of our country’s public health response to the Omicron variant and through the duration of the pandemic.”
The letter went on to suggest that free over-the-counter tests should be made available nationwide throughout the duration of the pandemic. It noted that some public health officials are calling for twice that number, or roughly 2.3 billion tests per month.
On Dec. 21, the Biden administration announced plans to purchase 500 million antigen, or rapid COVID-19 tests, and develop a system to distribute them nationwide at no cost.
City News Service contributed to this report
