SACRAMENTO, Calif. — After months of delays, Sacramento County is teaming up with a local biotech company to get COVID-19 test results faster.
The county’s Board of Supervisors approved a new $13.5 million contract with the Folsom-based StemExpress. The company could process about 19,000 COVID-19 tests for Sacramento County tests each week, Sacramento County Health Director Dr. Peter Beilenson said.
According to Beilenson, that would be the highest number of tests processed each week in the county since the pandemic started.
“The new contract will make testing much more available for people in vulnerable areas," he said.
The new contract guarantees a faster test result turnaround and five more testing centers to stay open through the end of the year. Bringing the total of county-run community testing sites to 10.
After months of struggling to make testing more easily accessible for vulnerable communities, and for results to come back quicker, Beilenson says StemExpress would process all the samples with the goal of getting results within three days, if not sooner.
“That’s what we need and want, otherwise you cannot do contact tracing, because if you get tested and it takes 10 days to get back, the cat is out of the bag," he explained.
Thanks to the new contract, the county hopes to soon announce new COVID-19 sites in communities seeing a recent spike in cases.
“Those places are Oak Park, South Sacramento, North Highlands, and Galt,” he added.
Back in May, county health officials ramped up COVID-19 testing efforts. Five walk-up testing sites opened in low-income communities. Unfortunately, in July the county was forced to close them temporarily due to a nationwide shortage in testing supplies.
However, the county’s partnership with StemExpress ensures none of the sites close down before December 30, 2020, and makes testing available for people in more vulnerable areas, Beilenson said.
“It’s all in part by adding five community-based sites that will be serving people that weren’t served before as well as serving people in the behavioral health world, congregate living, and teachers and teaching staff,” he added.
According to Beilenson, Sacramento County will have one of the fastest turnarounds in the state.
Meantime, StemExpress says it's now working to get results back even faster, within 24 to 48 hours. The company already runs tests for several hospitals, nursing homes, police and fire departments, and private companies in Northern California.
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