Malibu Testing Continues At City Hall, Private Doctors and At The County Centers
Written by 991KBU on April 8, 2020
Los Angeles County is expanding coronavirus testing to more people.
And the City of Malibu opens its test center to the general public … with reservations … today.
The city on Monday administered more than 250 free novel coronavirus (COVID-19) tests … and planned to do as many tests as possible yesterday.
Those days were for first responders and essential workers.
The drive-thru testing was offered at Malibu City Hall by the city and its partners, Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE), Covid Clinic and Malibu Medical Group.
Drive-thru testing for residents of the broader Malibu community runs today thru Saturday.
Again … reservations are required … and it appears that tests are reserved at this time for persons showing symptoms … or persons in suscupetible groups.
It is not clear if persons in a susceptible group .… who are not showing symptoms … are being given tests.
The situation is in flux.
Yesterday morning we were told that two types of tests would be offered …
The nasal swab test for active virus … and a blood test that detects antibodies to the virus in people who’ve been exposed and either recovered or never became ill.
That second test … the antibody test … was not available.
The FDA has only approved such a test last weekend … and one company is rushing it into production.
The nasal test is being administered … it’s cost was listed as $125 yesterday.
It is now being offered for $60 … which will be billed to insurance companies for those showing symptoms of the disease.
If no insurance … or if your insurance will not pay for it … then a $60 donation is requested.
The donation must be made online at https://www.coreresponse.org/.
And the city says any community member or business who would like to support this testing service … for those who do not have health insurance …may make a donation to https://www.coreresponse.org .
Private medical groups and hospitals on the Westside and Ventura county continue to test people.
And the major public health testing effort is gearing up to test even more people.
It’s jointly run by the city of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County.
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L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced last night that any resident who has symptoms and wants to be tested for the coronavirus can now apply online to be tested.
This is for anyone in Los Angeles County.
Testing was previously limited to vulnerable populations, including those 65 and older, and those with compromised immune systems.
new testing locations are opening today … in South Los Angeles and Pasadena.
Garcetti stresses that this “doesn’t mean we’ll have a test for everybody tomorrow .. but it means that our capacity is now greater than the number that we are getting through the requirements that we had.”
The counties testing centers are all some distance from malibu.
But the Westside of LA County has large percentages of private insurance … and insured persons able ti get tests fromt heir doctors or hospitals.
The closest L A County test sites to Malibu are in Northridge and South Los Angeles.
