Coronavirus Testing Expands In Lake Elsinore: Get More Info

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — Drive-up coronavirus testing at Lake Elsinore's Diamond Stadium took place over the weekend and will continue for the unforeseeable future.

Those living within 50 miles of Riverside can now screen symptoms and risk factors online and, if eligible, participate in testing at the stadium, which has been designated as a Community-Based Testing Site. CBTS are California state directed and federally supported testing centers.

To find out if you can get an appointment for testing, use the Baseline COVID-19 Program website. People must be screened as "high risk" to make an appointment — the Diamond Stadium location is unable to take walk-ins.

“We are excited about this expansion of testing capacity because it allows us to ramp up our responsiveness to our communities,” said Riverside University Health System – Public Health Director Kim Saruwatari. “As a California Community-Based Testing Site, Riverside County residents will be able to screen their symptoms and risk-factors online, and if eligible, schedule a testing appointment using the Baseline website. This means that the more people who need the test can get it.”

Residents can still call 800-945-6171 to make an appointment over the phone for the Lake Elsinore testing site, but will soon be directed to the website for all appointments.

The Lake Elsinore location was one of two Baseline COVID-19 Program sites announced Monday by Verily Life Sciences, the company that launched the program with support from federal, state, and local public health officials. The other site was launched in Sacramento; two other locations opened last week, one in San Jose and the other in San Mateo, for a total of four Baseline COVID-19 Program sites statewide.

With the expansion into Lake Elsinore and Sacramento, Verily said thousands of people across four California counties will now be served.

"In the first week of operations, we scaled testing to 20X the capacity at launch, testing over 1,200 individuals at initial sites in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. Now, we are adding a self service scheduling capability for eligible individuals to the Baseline COVID-19 screening tool, further increasing efficiency across all testing sites," according to a Verily statement.

"We launched the program pilot with a limited number of appointments to allow us to quickly understand and adjust protocols and processes for safety and scalability. The program has involved medical centers and federal, state, and local public health officials to identify and to inform best practices for establishing local testing programs for broader population screening. We plan to share a consolidated report on our approach to support public health authorities in their efforts to quickly stand up testing initiatives," the statement continued.

The screening and testing criteria that inform the Baseline COVID-19 Program screener are directed by the California Department of Public Health and are updated in accordance with public health guidance as the situation develops, according to Verily.

The California community-based testing program began by testing higher risk individuals as determined by CDPH. Eligibility requirements will continue to be updated based on public health needs and testing capacity, according to Verily.

As of Monday evening, there were 48 confirmed coronavirus cases in Riverside County. Six people have died from complications due to the illness; all of the deaths occurred in the Coachella Valley.

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