Santa Barbara County prepares for new COVID-19 testing location
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Santa Barbara County's COVID-19 testing capability is tripling. Public Health officer Dr. Henning Ansorg said he expects the county to be able to test 1,000 people a day for the deadly virus.
As of Tuesday night Santa Barbara Public Health said there have been 544 cases confirmed in Santa Barbara County, of which 442 people have fully recovered. However, if more testing was available sooner, Dr. Ansorg said that number would be higher, "If we had tested earlier, we may have seen more cases actually, because we would have identified more people, who in the meantime went unnoticed and recovered on their own."
The increased testing is part of Governor Gavin Newsom's plan to start to reopen California and start incrementally scaling back the stay at home order.
Tuesday Santa Maria opened the first of three testing locations in Santa Barbara County. Thursday Santa Barbara will open their testing location at the Earl Warren Showgrounds. And on Friday Lompoc will open the third location at the Anderson Recreation Center.
Dr. Ansorg said the tests are free all you need to do is sign up to make an appointment. Visit the Santa Barbara County Public Health website for more information about how to make an appointment online.
