Eureka COVID 19 site one of 80 California locations to increase testing

Additional testing capability will be available to Humboldt County starting in a few short weeks.

A COVID-19 community testing site, provided by the State of California Testing Task Force in conjunction with OptumServe, is slated to open in Eureka and is estimated to be fully operational for the public in the next one to two weeks.

Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich said this new testing site will be an incredible boost for the county as we move into the next phase of our response to COVID-19, with the site having the ability to test approximately 96 people per day,

“Our goal is to be able to conduct broad testing and surveillance in our community so that we will have an on-going understanding of how much COVID transmission is occurring,” Dr. Frankovich said. “With this extra capacity we are going to be able to test mildly symptomatic people and eventually, even people without symptoms so that we can better identify early and very mild COVID infections so that we can contain them most effectively.”

This has been a critical ongoing need and one that Humboldt County Public Health has been working to address together with our County Emergency Operations Center team since early in this pandemic, Dr. Frankovich said. “This state-provided resource makes that goal possible and we are deeply appreciative for this opportunity.”

The Eureka testing site is one of 80 planned sites across the state being set up to increase COVID-19 testing of Californians and is one of the first in our region.  To determine where to locate new testing sites, the state looked at both rural and urban areas where Californians may have trouble accessing testing, due in part to distance and other factors. That information was then evaluated to ensure communities in most need of testing received needed resources regardless of socioeconomic status.

Once the community testing site is fully operational, Humboldt County residents will be able to schedule an appointment and receive a test. Test results will be available within 48 to 72 hours. More information regarding the location of the testing site and how to make an appointment will be announced in the coming weeks.

“The Humboldt County Emergency Operations Center has been working on this request for a mobile test site for weeks. I am thankful that the state has chosen Humboldt County as one of the first sites to be established,” Sheriff William Honsal said. “By increasing testing, we will be positioned to meet one of the requirements of the Governor’s roadmap to lift the Shelter-in-Place.”