Health

Mar Vista High COVID-19 Testing Site Reopening Sept. 24

Video by County News Center
Reading Time: 3 minutes

The County’s COVID-19 testing site at Mar Vista High School in Imperial Beach will be reopening Sept. 24, after being temporarily closed to provide additional resources at San Diego State University.

The drive-up site will be providing up to 500 free tests from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. No appointments are necessary, testing takes about 5-10 minutes, and results come back in about two days.

Mar Vista High is one of six County locations that do not require an appointment to get a test. People must be 12 years of age or older to be tested at a County-coordinated site.

The other five sites are located at:

  1. California State University San Marcos – Viasat Engineering Pavilion
  2. University of San Diego – Electronics Recycling Center
  3. San Diego State University Alumni Center
  4. Tubman-Chavez Community Center
  5. San Ysidro Port of Entry PedEast

Appointments are necessary at other County testing sites. To make an appointment, visit www.211sandiego.org or call 2-1-1. You can view the testing sites by day online.

Free COVID-19 testing is also available from your healthcare provider. Health plans are required to cover COVID-19 tests at no cost to the enrollee. It is recommended that you first contact your healthcare provider for a COVID-19 test.

Most youth and their caregivers can receive testing through the COVID-19 Collaborative for Children in partnership with Rady Children’s Hospital. You should contact your Rady pediatrician or email covidcollaborative@rchsd.org for more information.

Youth and caregivers covered by Kaiser Permanente should consult with their pediatrician or physician provider directly, or through www.kp.org.

The County announced today it was working on making tests available at County sites for children under age 12.

To date, more than 1 million tests have been reported in the region and the County has conducted over 51,000 case investigations.

a nurse assisting someone inside a car at a testing facility

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 6.9. The testing positivity percentage is 3.8%.
  • The California Department of Public Health will assess counties on a weekly basis, with the next report scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 29.

Community Setting Outbreaks:

  • No new community outbreaks were confirmed on Sept. 22.
  • In the past seven days (Sept. 16 through Sept. 22), 13 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:

  • 5,091 tests were reported to the County on Sept. 22 and the percentage of new laboratory-confirmed cases was 5%.
  • The 14-day rolling average percentage of positive cases is 3.6%. Target is less than 8.0%.
  • The 7-day, daily average of tests is 8,241.
  • People with and without symptoms who are at higher risk for COVID-19 should be tested. Healthcare 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:

  • 278 new cases were confirmed among San Diego County residents on Sept. 22. The region’s total is now 45,425.
  • 19 of the 278 new cases are connected to San Diego State University. The total number of cases connected to SDSU students is reported online.
  • 3,450 or 7.6% of cases have required hospitalization through Sept. 22.
  • 813 or 1.8% of all cases and 23.6% 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. 22. The region’s total remains at 767.
  • Two men died Sept. 20, and their ages were in the early 60s and early 70s.

More Information:

The more detailed data summaries found on the County’s coronavirus-sd.com website will be updated around 5 p.m. today.

José A. Álvarez is a communications specialist with the County of San Diego Communications Office. Contact