SF Bay Area virus testing sites for people with symptoms only

Walk-ins brave a light drizzle to have themselves tested for the coronavirus. The Hayward testing center is believed to be the only free testing center accepting walk-ins.  INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

HAYWARD, California — More than ten percent of the total number of those tested in the first two weeks in this city just 27 miles from San Francisco have been found positive for COVID-19.

In the latest figures provided by the Hayward City government, of the first 2,089 people whose test samples have been analyzed, 226 have been found to be positive for infection with the coronavirus.

The information on those found positive for infection is shared with the person’s local public health department, and appropriate isolation and transmission control instructions are provided to the infected person.

The testing center at the Hayward Fire Station #7, 28270 Huntwood Avenue near Tennyson Avenue was set up to take pressure off hospital emergency rooms, provide quicker answers for sick people and recently exposed first responders and health care workers.

Hayward Fire Department Public Information Officer Don Nicholson asked that those with no symptoms not to come to the testing center anymore as they would just be turned away. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

(NOTE: The City of Hayward and California State University East Bay (CSUEB), also in Hayward, announced that Hayward COVID-19 Testing Center is moving to a new location on the campus of CSUEB  effective 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 14, 2020.

To be located at CSUEB Parking Lot A on West Loop Road across the street from the University Police Department, Student Health Center, Library and Gymnasium, the new testing center will provide more space for vehicle and foot traffic management aside improved accessibility for disabled visitors to the Testing Center.)

For people with symptoms only

Hayward Fire Department Public Information Officer Don Nicholson appealed to people with no symptoms not to come for testing as they may just be turned away,

“If you have a fever above a hundred degrees, have traveled recently out of the country Europe or Asia, have a cough, shortness of breath difficulty breathing, are susceptible to immunity issues, if you have a heart, lung, liver disease , chronic illness, and/or you are aged 65  you will probably get tested,” Nicholson assured.

Their test consists of swabs in both sides at the back of the nasal cavity and back of the throat, which is rather invasive and is being performed by Hayward Fire Department firefighter-paramedics and health clinicians.

Results may be known in as fast as 6 hours, 24 hours at the most, with the doctor notifying the patient of the result.

“We have test kits of up to 370 per day. We had a lot of people screened had to be turned away because they did not meet the criteria I mentioned,” Nicholson shared.

“There are at least 50 people on the front lines, including testers and screeners from United Ambulance Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs), students from Chabot College, and from the Fremont Fire Department who assisted the Hayward Fire and Police Department before they had their own testing area.”

Nicholson also disclosed that the funding for the testing projects came from the City of Hayward and that Hayward Fire Chief Garret Contreras came up with the idea for the testing area.

Three-week run

The Station 7 COVID-19 Testing Center will run for at least three weeks is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday (closed on Mondays) and is made possible through a partnership with Avellino Lab USA, Inc., of Menlo Park, a global leader in gene therapy and molecular diagnostics with a focus in precision medicine for eye care.

The Testing Center needs no referral from a medical doctor, is free and open to members of the general public 12-years-old and above with COVID symptoms like cough and shortness of breath, regardless of where they live or immigration status.

The Testing Center in coordination with the Alameda County Department of Public Health (ACDPH) is also deploying teams to provide COVID-19 testing at nursing homes and for other community members considered most in need based on their living and health conditions.

Incidentally, 9 of 50 residents of Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center in Hayward tested positive with COVID-19 virus have died and 24 members of the facility’s staff reportedly tested positive for the virus.

As of late, the seven Bay Area health officers for the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo and the City of Berkeley extended the previous stay-at-home order and stricter social distancing through May 3.

In a related development, the Alameda County Public Health Department on April 2 issued a new recommendation that everyone wear a cloth covering of the nose and mouth when leaving home for essential activities and this recommendation was also adopted by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Other Bay Area testing sites

At present there are at least three more public testing sites aside from the Hayward Testing Center, in the following areas:

• 7200 Stevenson Blvd., Fremont does not require a medical referral but tests only symptomatic members of the public; for drive-thru only for those who scheduled a test in advance by calling (510) 789-7231;
• the old Kaiser Convention Center on 10 Tenth St., Oakland, is open for those who are at high risk of contracting the virus, which includes health care providers, grocery/food bank/restaurant employees, homeless service workers, funeral home employees, childcare workers and caregivers. The drive-thru testing center is by appointment only and a prior arrangement can be made through certain organizations and businesses;
• Piers 30 – 32 in San Francisco, now open only for front line workers including sheriff’s staff, city police, firefighters, paramedics, 911 dispatchers and city health care workers. An appointment is needed by those qualified. Mayor London Breed recently announced though that  the city would be opening a drive-thru and walk-thru soon.

Other hospitals and health providers like Kaiser, UCSF, John Muir Health and Stanford are offering tests to their patients who have referrals from member physicians.

Carbon Health clinics around the Bay Area and Verily Project Baseline (in Santa Clara County Fairgrounds and San Mateo County Events Center locations)  are offering COVID-19 tests after an online assessment.

Façade of Gateway Care and Rehabilitation Center on Patrick Avenue in Hayward  where 9 of 50 residents have died of COVID- while 25 staff members have tested positive.. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

Dignity Health also announced that rapid testing began in six hospitals across Northern California with priority for in-patients already admitted and suspected with the virus, health care workers and employees who may have been exposed and are showing symptoms and others who are symptomatic but do not need hospitalization, with a roughly one-day turnaround. Dignity  Health in a partnership with Abbott can perform 960 rapid tests per week for in-patients.

In an a complementary move, the University of California in San Francisco (UCSF) will offer COVID-19 sample analysis for 30 days, free of charge, to all nine Bay Area counties’ Departments of Public Health (DPH).

This is in response to a recent expansion of its COVID-19 test processing capacity at a new diagnostic laboratory adjacent to the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (CZ Biohub).

The county Department of Public Health (DPH) offices that are now eligible to send samples to UCSF are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma.