- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Public Health officer: COVID-19 testing remains limited, health care facilities vulnerable
Dr. Gary Pace went to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday morning to update county leaders about developments in the efforts to protect the community against COVID-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus.
He acknowledged the hardship for everyone, from financial challenges to children being out of school in the wake of a countywide public school closure that went into effect on Monday and continues through April 10.
“I think it’s going to be challenging for everybody,” he said.
Pace said he doesn’t know how long the situation will continue, and hopefully the illness will pass by the community. “It’s a sobering time.”
Globally, he said the situation is continuing to unfold. There is starting to be a real rise in the number of US cases, which led to the president calling for a national emergency.
He said Bay Area counties are clamping down and encouraging people to shelter at home, as are Lake’s neighboring counties. On Monday, Pace issued two public health orders, one relating to the school closures and the other for limiting groups.
“We’re seeing this thing exponentially move,” and he said he’s taking a cue and watching what is going on in the Bay Area in order to try to stay a step ahead of things.
Pace said “a couple dozen” people in Lake County have been tested for the virus, although so far none of that testing has yielded a confirmed case.
“The testing issues are huge. And it’s not a county issue,” he said, explaining that, statewide and nationally, there have been issues with testing capacity.
Testing has been done through regional public health labs and private companies, he said.
Pace reported that the private lab company used by Adventist Health Clear Lake Hospital rejected samples sent to them by the hospital for testing because they don’t have the capacity and are overwhelmed by testing demand.
“We’re helping them find other routes,” Pace said of the hospital.
He said another private testing company has a capacity to do 1,200 tests a week for the western region but has a seven-day turnaround time, which he said is a nightmare from a doctor’s point of view.
The public health lab in Santa Rosa is now running 40 tests a day for three counties – Sonoma, Mendo and Lake. However, Pace said that testing requires the patients to meet very specific criteria, such as having had contact with a sick person or being very sick themselves, including being on a ventilator.
Pace said Lake County Public Health is getting questions about testing all day long. “There’s no good answer.”
If only about 20 people have been tested, how can we know it’s not in Lake County, Pace asked. Then, answering his own question, he said, “We have not seen a surge in illnesses or things that would make us concerned about that, but it’s certainly possible.”
He added, “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s in the community.”
Pace said he wants to do surveillance for the illness as has been done in places like Marin and Sonoma counties, where cases have been found.
He said he is trying to get the testing capability for surveillance and he’s in communication with the regional lab, which also is having trouble with its capacity.
The California Office of Emergency Services may be able to help with drive-through testing. “We’re still very early in that conversation,” Pace said.
On Sunday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state has made arrangements to start drive-through testing. Pace said that testing is starting at two sites, one in San Mateo County and another in Santa Clara County, which are in the hotbeds of the outbreak.
Pace said testing – from a clinical and outbreak management point of view – is the biggest problem, and it’s a problem everywhere.
The situation is very confusing and changing all the time. Pace said he hopes to have good news next week about expanded testing capacity.
The longer the infection can be kept out of Lake County and its spread minimized, the better off the community will be, Pace said.
He said his biggest concern relates to the local hospitals. “Our health care facilities are vulnerable.”
The two hospitals have a total of eight ventilators for a population of 65,000 people. Pace said that’s a concern because COVID-19 is a respiratory illness, especially in the more severe cases. Ventilators allow the more serious patients to survive, but they need to stay on the machines for a few weeks.
Pace said the Public Health strategy is to slow down the illness before it gets into Lake County, so if it does get here, it will be at a manageable level.
The places that have been most successful in stopping the illness, he said, have put a blanket on social interaction, done testing and quickly gotten sick people into quarantine.
Later on Tuesday, county officials reported that Pace is preparing to issue a shelter in place order for Lake County. That order could come as soon as Wednesday.
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