Sonoma County prepares to ramp up coronavirus testing after securing swabs

Sonoma County public health workers are preparing this week to increase the amount of testing for the new coronavirus with special focus on high-risk groups such as health care workers and people who work and live in group care facilities, Sonoma County Public Health Officer Dr. Sundari Mase said Tuesday.

The new testing regimen is expected to begin this weekend with the goal of testing 200 people each day at drive-thru sites, a program possible because the county received an influx of specimen swabs, an essential tool for collecting specimens that has been in short supply nationwide.

Testing for the disease is a crucial element of an increasingly targeted approach to battling community transmission of the virus in the county, where the number of new cases are currently far below earlier projections by epidemiological models. Mase said the goal is to begin easing restrictions that have caused financial and social hardships for residents who cannot work, attend school or leave home apart from crucial errands - without causing the number of cases to spike.

“It’s a risk-benefit analysis that we have to make,” Mase said.

Sonoma County reported 10 new cases of COVID-19 Tuesday, bringing the total positive tests to 192 - representing 4% of the 4,507 tests conducted since early March. There are currently 103 active cases, 87 people who have recovered and two local residents who have died.

State data on hospitalizations showed there were 14 patients being treated for COVID-19 at Sonoma County medical centers. Those patients included two people who tested positive and another 12 patients suspected of having the disease, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Six people suspected to have COVID-19 were being treated in local intensive care units, the state data showed.

With 14 people hospitalized, the rate of infection and serious disease is far below the numbers projected by a county-hired epidemiologist. A graph of the model provided by the county indicated the county, even with a public health shelter-in-place order, could at this point have had nearly 1,000 people requiring hospitalization.

Mase said she and others had greatly underestimated the dramatic impact public isolation orders would have lessening transmission of the disease.

“We’re not seeing as many hospitalizations because of shelter-in-place and how effective it’s been,” Mase said.

During a press call Tuesday, Mase also provided more details about antibody testing her department hopes to conduct soon to determine who in the community has previously been infected. She said the county has ordered a machine made by Italian biotech company DiaSorin that processes antibody tests.

Mase said antibody testing could be used on all first responders to determine how many of them have been infected with COVID-19.

“I think we’re a few weeks away, according to our lab director, from getting the test,” she said.

The county is also undertaking increasingly hands-on investigations into people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

Mase confirmed Tuesday that the county’s health department has deployed staff to revisit positive coronavirus cases to obtain more demographic data, including race and ethnicity, adding that the data would be made available to the public.

The county had not been tracking race and ethnicity data for positive cases, leaving open questions about the virus’s impact on various communities within the county.

Mase said the county will also seek to obtain height and weight measurements, and “getting a few other symptoms I wish we’d caught.”

She said staff would also check in with people to see how they’re feeling, whether they’re still having symptoms and potentially ask if they’d like to be tested again.

The 5,000 swabs the county received was part of a 10,000-swab purchase county staffers made through online retail giant Amazon. The second shipment is expected soon, she said.

The county has also placed a separate order for 100,000 swabs, as officials make preparations to vastly expand testing starting Saturday ahead of the potential easing of some ?shelter-in-place restrictions.

Tuesday morning, Mase told the Board of Supervisors she envisions eventually creating an efficient, systematic process in which symptomatic people set appointments for testing.

She also announced she’s readying new orders or changes to existing isolation orders to help ease some of the restrictions placed on commerce and community life.

That includes potentially softening park closures and allowing some business sectors to operate, such as real estate and residential construction.

She’s also considering easing restrictions on elective surgeries at area hospitals, which have sustained economic setbacks while preparing for a potential surge of patients sick with coronavirus.

Mase said the county is trying to align its orders closer to the state, which is less restrictive, particularly as it relates to residential construction activities.

The county’s current shelter-in-place order prohibits construction for market-rate housing, and has drawn the ire of builders and county supervisors who have questioned how one type of construction is inherently more dangerous than others.

Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt, acknowledging the ongoing economic losses for hospitals unable to perform elective surgeries, said the same is true for other professions and occupations throughout the county under the current shelter-in-place order.

“They’re losing money hand over fist,” Rabbitt said. “That’s going to have an impact on health and life.”

After Rabbitt pushed for a numeric goal for testing before the county could reopen for business, Mase said she’d like to see testing done for 80% to 100% of people who have symptoms showing they may be sick from the coronavirus.

“If we’re doing that, our modeling shows even if we were to start peeling off, the resurgence after we lift shelter in place would be a lot less,” Mase said.

Also Tuesday, Mase highlighted the factors that put people at a greater risk of having serious complications from the coronavirus, especially those with compromised immune systems from underlying diseases, she said during a live social media webcast.

Diabetes, significant overweight, cancer, liver and kidney diseases and other health conditions add risks for people at any age, she said. All people who are age 65 and older and anyone living in a group care facility have a greater chance of having serious outcomes should they contract COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, according to Mase.

“If you smoke, please consider this might be a good time to quit smoking,” said Mase, who said smoking reduces lung capacity.

Staff Writer Martin Espinoza contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.