With a boost from commercial labs, Sonoma County broadens patient testing for coronavirus

With the help of national commercial laboratories, medical staff at health centers, hospitals and medical groups across Sonoma County on Thursday joined the regional battle against coronavirus.

In Healdsburg, Santa Rosa and Petaluma, long-awaited test kits arrived so medical teams can complement the aggressive, random testing county health officials began and intend to expand to five designated hospitals, clinics and urgent care centers. With test kits more readily available, local health officials are now letting doctors use their judgment in deciding who gets tested for coronavirus.

The intent of the testing is to determine if COVID-19 has infected anybody through transmission in the community, a viral escalation known as “community spread.”

The county’s interim health officer, Dr. Sundari Mase, said there were no positive cases Thursday among 45 people tested, as part of the county’s ramped up testing effort, and no confirmed cases since local officials began testing Saturday. The three people hospitalized here, who each contracted the infectious disease on a pair of virus-stricken cruise ships in late February, remain the county’s only coronavirus patients.

“If we just get one (positive) case, we know we have it in the community,” Mase said of the broader, ongoing “enhanced surveillance” testing program.

Doctors at Healdsburg Physicians Group on Thursday received delivery of their first 20 coronavirus test kits from Quest Diagnostics and expected 20 more kits Friday. Meanwhile, Healdsburg District Hospital is expected to receive 50 kits Friday from another commercial laboratory, ARUP Laboratories.

The arrival of virus testing kits from commercial labs Quest, LabCorp and ARUP is starting to relieve some of the pent-up demand among local residents who for weeks have wondered whether their flu-like symptoms could mean they have the new coronavirus. The national labs are required to report any positive tests to county health officials.

Health care providers are asking county residents to stay calm and avoid simply showing up at local clinics, hospital emergency departments, doctors’ offices and urgent care centers wanting to be tested for the virus, without first calling their respective doctor for guidance and a determination if they indeed need a test.

“We don’t want people just showing up and causing alarm and potentially infecting others,” said Gina Fabiano, a Healdsburg District Hospital spokeswoman. “We want them to call ahead, so we can prepare to meet them at the door so we can mitigate the potential spread of the virus.”

Representatives of Quest and LabCorp also said people should not go to local laboratory locations asking to be tested.

“This specific test (specimen) can only be drawn by a health care provider,” said Rachel Carr, a Quest spokeswoman. “Once the health care provider pulls this test, it’s sent to our high complexity lab in San Juan Capistrano, California.”

LabCorp said the turnaround time to provide test results is typically three to four days. By comparison, county health officials said the local public health lab can produce results in 24 hours.

Dr. Chad Krilich, chief medical officer for St. Joseph Health, which operates Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, said he understands there is a lot of anxiety in the community about the global pandemic of coronavirus. He said it’s been challenging dealing with patient demands and virus assessment, particularly when there has been very little testing capacity locally.

Even with commercial labs boosting the county’s own expanded surveillance, there are still not nearly enough testing kits to test everyone who wants one. Sonoma County has a population of about 500,000.

“It’s really important that people contact their primary care physician and understand their risks for coronavirus,” the physician said, noting there are online tools that can help people determine whether they should be tested for the disease.

Krilich said a good deal of screening for the virus can be done over the phone between medical professional and patient and that people with mild or no symptoms should avoid burdening urgent care centers, hospital emergency rooms and physician offices.

Amid the increased level of testing, a source at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital said Thursday two of the patients diagnosed with the virus are being treated in the intensive-care unit there, and one of them is in critical but stable condition. No information was available about a third person who tested positive for coronavirus and was transferred last month to a local hospital from Travis Air Force Base in Solano County. County health officials have repeatedly declined to identify where the trio are hospitalized, citing patient privacy laws.

Mase, the county’s interim health officer, said the county’s surveillance testing that began Thursday at one or two health care sites could ultimately include five locations, each one conducting tests on 20 patients with coronavirus symptoms. She said the specific locations won’t be publicly revealed because that could jeopardize the integrity of the enhanced testing project.

“We don’t want to mess up the whole process,” Mase said. “We want people who are normally coming in to come in. Our worry is that hundreds of people who don’t have symptoms will show up.”

With five health care sites participating, as many as 100 people could be randomly tested, Mase said.

The total number of available coronavirus test kits now in Sonoma County is not readily known, since health care providers and affiliated medical groups are requesting them directly from commercial labs.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, priorities for the testing should be: hospitalized patients who have COVID-19 symptoms; older adults with coronavirus symptoms; and individuals with chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and chronic lung disease.

Mildly ill people should stay home from work and contact their doctor, the CDC said. Older patients and people with underlying medical conditions or compromised immune systems should call their doctor right away, even if they have mild virus symptoms. And patients with severe flu-like symptoms and difficulty breathing should seek care immediately, health officials said.

Dr. Nurit Licht, chief medical officer at Petaluma Health center, said while patient tests are a key tool for addressing the spread of coronavirus, prudent “health behaviors” are equally important.

Such behaviors include practicing good hygiene, limiting travel, avoiding large gatherings and staying home from work and school when sick, she said.

“A test is just a point in time, but the practices that we do now are going to protect us and protect our entire community from illness,” Licht said. “Healthy behaviors are the number one thing that we can do.”

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.