County Opening COVID-19 Testing Sites for Teachers, Students
Starting Oct. 1, the County will be setting up COVID-19 testing sites for teachers and school personnel in San Diego, Chula Vista, Del Mar and El Cajon.
The sites, set up in partnership with the San Diego County Office of Education, will offer testing without an appointment to maximize the number of tests administered. The California Department of Public Health recommends periodic surveillance testing for all school employees who may have contact with students or other staff.
Teachers and staff should contact their school or school district for information on where to get a test.
Additionally, San Diego County Fire will be working with school districts in rural communities to test school personnel.
Testing for Students
Students in grades K-12 can get tested at the following locations:
- Rady Children’s Hospital: Email covidcollaborative@rchsd.org
- Kaiser Permanente: Visit www.kp.org
- County of San Diego Site: Visit 211sandiego.org or call 2-1-1
Additional testing guidance is available for teachers, students and school personnel through their healthcare provider and health plans are required to cover the cost.
Free tests are also available at any of the County-coordinated sites that can be found at www.211sandiego.org.
Over the next two weeks, the number of County sites will increase from 29 to 41 and the number of tests available to be administered by public health nurses through the County’s lab contract with Helix will nearly double to about 30,000 weekly tests.
COVID-19 testing continues to be primarily being conducted at hospitals, with additional tests from commercial labs and community health centers.
The County is working to transition the majority of its sites to those that will not require an appointment. To find a no-appointment site near you, or to make an appointment, visit www.211sandiego.org or call 2-1-1. You can view the testing sites by day here.
New State Metrics:
- Under the new state monitoring metrics, San Diego County is currently in Tier 2, also referred to as the Red Tier.
- San Diego’s state-calculated, adjusted case rate is 6.7. The testing positivity percentage is 3.5%.
- The California Department of Public Health will assess counties on a weekly basis, with the next report scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Community Setting Outbreaks:
- 14 new community outbreaks were confirmed on Sept. 29: seven in business settings, five in restaurants, one in a gym and one in a food processing setting.
- In the past seven days (Sept. 23 through Sept. 29), 34 community outbreaks were confirmed.
- The number of community outbreaks remains above the trigger of seven or more in seven days.
- A community setting outbreak is defined as three or more COVID-19 cases in a setting and in people of different households over the past 14 days.
Testing:
- 10,709 tests were reported to the County on Sept. 29 and the percentage of new laboratory-confirmed cases was 2%.
- The 14-day rolling average percentage of positive cases is 3%. Target is less than 8.0%.
- The 7-day, daily average of tests is 9,357.
- People with and without symptoms who are at higher risk for COVID-19 should be tested. Health care and essential workers should also get a test, as well as people who had close contact to a positive case or live in communities that are being highly impacted.
Cases:
- 195 new cases were confirmed among San Diego County residents on Sept. 29. The region’s total is now 47,180.
- None of the new cases are connected to San Diego State University. The total number of cases connected to SDSU students is here.
- 3,525 or 7.5% of cases have required hospitalization through Sept. 29.
- 822 or 1.7% of all cases and 23.3% of hospitalized cases had to be admitted to an intensive care unit.
Deaths:
- Two new COVID-19 deaths were reported in San Diego County on Sept. 29. The region’s total is now 783.
- Two men died between Sept. 24 and Sept. 25, and their ages ranged from early 50s to late 50s.
- Both had underlying medical conditions.
More Information:
The more detailed data summaries found on the County’s coronavirus-sd.com website will be updated around 5 p.m. today.