San Luis Obispo County now has a test kit for coronavirus
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - San Luis Obispo County received a test kit for coronavirus last week. They validated the test over the weekend and are now testing patients.
Right now, San Luis Obispo County has just one test kit, but each kit has 300 sample spaces.
Each patient is tested for two samples, a nose swab and a throat swab. Sometimes three samples are needed.
That means one kit can be used to test 100 to 150 patients.
The county public health office says they receive results back very quickly.
"It can be as much as a 24 hour turnaround time," said Penny Borenstein, M.D., San Luis Obispo County health officer. "That is still less than the 48 hours that the state is taking and the four days or so that the Centers for Disease Control is taking."
She also said that depending on the time of a day samples are received, they can get results in less than 24 hours.
The county has disbursed those tests to hospitals and other health providers in the area.
If a doctor feels a patient may have coronavirus, they call the public health office and together they decide if the patient should be tested.
Then the county public health lab tests the samples.
They have begun testing patients, but no one has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The public health office says the anticipate receiving more kits in the future as more people need testing. They do not know when they will receive them.
"I think we will absolutely see an explosion of cases in the United States. We will see cases in our community," said Borenstein.
Despite the future possibility of coronavirus cases on the Central Coast, she said that there is no reason for people to panic.
Borenstein said that most cases are mild, and some do not require any medical attention.
They county recommended that people and businesses start making plans in the event the coronavirus does have an outbreak here.
They encourage social distancing in those plans. In other words, creating plans to limit your exposure to other people.
