Drive-thru coronavirus testing of health care workers begins in Santa Rosa

A drive-thru testing site intended to identify cases of the coronavirus among local health care workers debuted at Sonoma County's Public Health Lab Saturday, a location expected to operate for several weeks and gradually include testing of other high-risk groups and eventually the general public.

Cars rolled into the back parking lot of the lab on Chanate Road in Santa Rosa beginning at 10 a.m., where orange traffic cones separated small teams spread over three rows in the parking lot.

Masked workers walked up to incoming vehicles and confirmed appointments with drivers inside. They filled out intake forms, gathering demographic information about each person and other information, such as whether they had symptoms or preexisting medical conditions.

Drivers then proceeded toward another set of workers, each covered head-to-toe in protective equipment that included face masks, plastic face shields, gloves, booties and surgical gowns.

There, the site staff swabbed the back the health care workers' throats, placed tests in individual tubes, labeled them and stored them in a container with others.

The county slotted 240 appointments for the drive-thru's opening day, though the quick turnaround time for individual tests signaled the county may have the capacity to boost its number of daily tests, said Rohish Lal, a county spokesman.

Test results should come back in two to three days, and those who test positive will be contacted first.

“It's been successful,” Lal said. “We didn't know how quickly we could do this but I think we can accommodate a few more (people).”

The opening of the testing site comes days after Gov. Gavin Newsom identified widespread daily testing of the virus throughout the state as one of six factors that will help determine how and when California lifts restrictions on public life related to the coronavirus. He added the state should be conducting 60,000 to 80,000 tests a day to identify virus outbreaks.

Testing at the drive-thru on Saturday was limited to health care workers from a variety of jobs, ranging from nurses and doctors to intake and housekeeping staff.

Elizabeth Phillips, 44, a nurse at a health clinic in Sonoma County, said she participated in Saturday's drive-thru testing because she wanted to do as much as she could to keep her patients safe. Though she had no symptoms of the virus, she worried about the possibility being a silent host of the disease.

“It was really easy and straightforward,” Phillips said about her experience getting tested. “I didn't get out of the car and was done in less than 10 minutes.”

Phillips added that she showed up to the site without an appointment after unsuccessfully trying to schedule one earlier that day, but was still allowed into the drive-thru. Cora Kendall, also a nurse, said her husband was offered a test when he accompanied her for her appointment, though he was not a health care worker.

Lal said he could not verify that someone other than a health care worker was tested on Saturday, and added that the woman who said she was tested without an appointment was likely tested in error and emphasized that people wanting to get tested should make an appointment first.

Only those who work in health care occupations, including those with and without symptoms, can schedule appointments, by calling 707-565-4667.

Lal said testing would eventually expand to include first responders, such as firefighters and EMTs, though the time frame for when that would happen was not set as of Saturday. Guidelines over who will be able to get tested at the location are expected to become more flexible over time until eventually opening the broad-range testing to the general public.

County officials warned the increase in testing expected in coming weeks may lead to a flurry of new confirmed cases in the county.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by one on Saturday, bringing the total of those who've tested positive for the disease to 218. Of those who've tested positive in Sonoma County, 10 more recovered on Saturday, leaving 113 active cases. Two people have died of COVID-19 in Sonoma County.

The drive-thru site was made possible by a recent shipment of 5,000 specimen swabs purchased by the county through Amazon, said Dr. Sundari Mase, the county's public health officer, earlier this week. Another shipment of 100,000 swabs is expected in about two weeks.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com.