Public Health working to improve local Covid-19 testing process

HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Calif. (KIEM) — The Public Health Department is working to improve Humboldt County’s Covid-19 testing strategy.

More symptomatic individuals, contacts of known cases, and those with a higher probability of testing positive are still prioritized in public health’s own lab. The prioritization schedule for testing is currently being revised and will soon be sent out to local healthcare providers.

With recurring issues with testing at the Redwood Acres site in Eureka, health officials are identifying possible strategies other than OptumServe in the area. To do this there are two options.

They could either establish a similar entity to OptumServe that takes care of testing from start to finish, from collection to insurance information to processing at a commercial lab. The other option is to find separate entities to carry out each part of the testing process.

Public Health is working to increase their own internal testing capacity as well.