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Humboldt County Health Officer Dr. Teresa Frankovich sat down for her first media availability video of May this afternoon and proceeded to answer questions from local outlets about testing. Watch the video above or skip to the Clif’s Notes below.

When will the new remote testing facility switch from testing first responders and medical staff to testing the general public? And how will the public go about getting tested? (0:14)

County staff has worked out many of the kinks in the testing process over the past week, and the online platform for requesting a test should be available to the public later this week, Frankovich says. 

How many tests have been performed at the remote testing site? What level of infection have you seen in the critical workers you’ve tested? (1:05)

More than 300 tests had been completed through the Sunday, and the results so far have all been negative, though some results are still outstanding.

How much surveillance testing do you believe needs to be in place before reopening the county? (1:38)

County staff had set a target of being able to test about 200 people per day, Frankovich says. However, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced that counties should have the capacity to test at least one person per thousand residents daily — meaning about 135 in Humboldt — as an early marker of readiness. The county can meet that threshold, she said. The next goal is to double that rate to 270 tests per day, and that will take some more work.

It sounds like the tests are pretty invasive. When do you expect less-invasive ones here — or do you? (2:54)

Other places use oral swabs or something called an anterior nasal swab, both of which are less invasive than the county’s method, which requires sticking a swab way up the nasal canal — “so it’s not very pleasant, for sure,” Frankovich says. County staff has been in talks with the state, hoping to get some of the easier tests.

Is this remote testing site an indicator that we might be able to reopen soon? (4:15)

In order for the county to move further into phase two of the governor’s four-phase reopening plan, officials must display the county’s readiness, Frankovich says, “and so that’s why we’ve been working like crazy on these preparedness pieces over the past weeks.” 

How close are we to antibody tests or widespread community testing, and how might that affect our case count? (5:05)

Serology surveillance, meaning widespread testing of blood for COVID-19 antibodies, is complicated. The idea, Frankovich says, is that a positive test suggests you’ve had a prior infection and may be immune. However, experts still don’t know whether positive results for COVID-19 antibodies really mean that the subject is immune from the virus — or, if so, for how long. “So it’s very difficult to make a decision about your personal health based on the serology right now,” Frankovich says. Such tests can be used to monitor the virus’s spread across a community, but it’s not a reliable diagnostic tool for individuals.

What are the most significant hurdles to ramping up testing rates even further? (6:55)

The new facility set up at Redwood Acres, with tests administered by the company OptumServe, can test up to 132 people per 12-hour-day, Frankovich says, and if needs dictate, that capacity can be increased to meet and exceed the governor’s readiness indicators. She doesn’t explain exactly how this would be accomplished.

A local clinic has begun offering serological testing. Will those results help guide local policy? (7:40)

Some of the usual quality control measures have been relaxed during this health emergency, Frankovich says, and so some of the testing kits available commercially may not be very useful or accurate. Consumers should research what kind of tests local clinics are offering. The ones that require a blood draw are generally more reliable than those that use just a finger-prick. “We’re referring to it as the Wild West of testing,” Frankovich says, “and we want people to be able to make smart choices.” 

Now that a specific antibody test, manufactured by Roche, has been approved by the FDA, when can locals expect to see them offered locally? (9:51)

Health officials know that the accuracy of these tests is lower when there’s less prevalence of infection in the community, Frankovich says, but the tests should be available here shortly, and the results will be reported into the state’s surveillance system.