Coronavirus Testing Sites To Open In Petaluma, Santa Rosa

PETALUMA, CA — Two coronavirus testing sites are slated to open Tuesday in Sonoma County, one in Petaluma and one in Santa Rosa, as part of a partnership between the state of California and OptumServe to add more than 80 community testing sites across the state, county officials announced Sunday.

"We are pleased to see that the State is stepping in to supplement local testing efforts," said Sonoma County Board of Supervisors Chair Susan Gorin. "This will help us get reach our goal of conducting 600-800 tests per day, which will help us to understand the spread of COVID-19 here in Sonoma County — a critical step toward opening the County back up."

News of the testing sites came as the number of coronavirus deaths in Sonoma County rose to three. The sites also come as Sonoma County eased some restrictions in a new shelter-at-home public health order that became effective at 12:01 a.m. Monday.

The new testing sites are open to all residents regardless of whether they have coronavirus symptoms. Tests are offered weekdays; locations and hours are provided when residents make an appointment by going online to https://lhi.care/covidtesting, or, for those without internet access, by calling 888-634-1123.

Tests are free to the public; for patients who have insurance, their insurance company will be billed. There is not a drive-thru option at these sites.

To give as many residents as possible access to testing regardless of socioeconomic status, the state looked at both rural and urban areas where residents were having to travel between 30 and 60 minutes to reach an existing testing site or hospital, and where populations were underserved based on median incomes and known economic disparities.

"These testing sites will help Sonoma County dramatically increase testing needs for individuals who have had limited access to COVID-19 tests up until now," said Sonoma County Health Officer, Dr. Sundari Mase. "We’re thrilled to partner with the State and OptumServe to help ensure our communities are healthy, while also helping meet our own and California’s testing goals."

The new sites in Petaluma and Santa Rosa enable the county to increase testing by more than 260 per day. At maximum capacity, OptumServe can support up to 80 testing sites at one time throughout California, increasing total testing capacity by more than 10,500 tests per day.

"Thanks to Sonoma County and to OptumServe for the collaboration to make these testing sites possible," said Dr. Charity Dean, assistant director of the California Department of Public Health. "We’re working together as part of the state’s Testing Task Force to ensure regions with the greatest need have access to tests, and these sites are going to be a major component in reaching our testing goals."

The two new testing sites are separate from the county's drive-thru testing at the Sonoma County Public Health Laboratory, which was continuing to accept only health care workers as of Monday morning. Health care workers should still call 707-565-4667 to make an appointment with the county’s drive-thru testing efforts, county officials said.