Watsonville Testing Site Will Likely Serve Low-Priority Patients

WATSONVILLE, CA — A specimen collection site set to open soon at Ramsay Park in Watsonville will likely serve up to 130 lower-priority patients displaying symptoms associated with the new coronavirus on a daily basis. Testing will be free for people without insurance.

Mimi Hall, director of the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency, said during a Thursday morning news conference that officials are describing the Watsonville site as a specimen collection site — not a testing site — because patients need a referral to have a sample collected there. Walk-ins will not be accepted.

Officials were initially hoping to open the site Monday, May 4, but it will most likely open later in the week, Hall said.

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Quest Diagnostics, the laboratory set to test samples collected at the Watsonville location, tends to take about four days to produce results for the county, so Hall said lower-priority patients who do not need immediate results will likely be sent there.

Santa Cruz County is opening the site in collaboration with the state, which will staff the site with workers from government contractor OptumServe Health Services. California will also provide workers protective gear.

"It helps us immensely to have OptumServe come in and do that for us," Hall said.

The Watsonville site is one of 80 the state is looking to open, the city said.

City Manager Matt Huffaker said Watsonville was chosen because of its proximity to Monterey County. The site will serve residents from both counties.

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