Marin Partners With Bay Area Company​ For Coronavirus Testing

MARIN COUNTY, CA — Marin County has partnered with health technology company Color in an effort to speed up turnaround time for coronavirus testing. The Burlingame-based company will take over the drive-thru COVID-19 test site behind Marin Center in San Rafael.

"This site represents one of our many initiatives to protect Marin County residents as we navigate our way forward through the pandemic," said Dr. Matt Willis, the county's public health officer. "With Color, we can provide free, fast and accurate testing so that people in our community can keep themselves, their neighbors, and their loved ones safe."

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Color plans to boost testing capacity at the site to 300 tests per day, up from 220 under the county's coordination, according to the county. The company expects to return test results to people tested at the site within one to three days.

"People should not only have access to reliable testing during this pandemic, but they should also receive results quickly enough to help prevent the spread of an outbreak," Color CEO Othman Laraki said.

Color has worked with San Francisco Mayor London Breed's CityTestSF program, making testing available to all essential workers in the city. Color has also built the public health infrastructure to support workforce testing for private employers and universities such as the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.

"Color is committed to supporting local efforts to combat the crisis in the Bay Area and this partnership further demonstrates how technological solutions can address the pandemic at scale," Laraki said.

Qualified Marin residents can schedule tests online. To be eligible for testing at the site, residents must:

• experience COVID-19 symptoms including fever, chills, cough, congestion, sore throat, difficulty breathing, headache, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, or new loss of taste or smell;
• have been informed by Marin County Public Health that they have had close contact with a person confirmed to have COVID-19;
• work in a high-risk setting such as a hospital or medical clinic, long-term care facility, homeless shelter or prison; or
• experience frequent contact with the public on a daily basis through jobs such as first responders, teachers, personal caregivers, housekeepers, construction workers, food service workers, and grocery store workers.

The Marin Center test site is at 10 Avenue of the Flags. The site is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Appointments are required but health insurance is not necessary.

Also see:

• California Coronavirus: Latest Updates On Cases, Orders, Closures
• Coronavirus In Marin County: Latest News
• Marin County Ends Ban On Reusable Bags Amid Coronavirus Pandemic