Two COVID-19 Test Centers – For Different Types Of People – Will Open Monday Morning At Malibu Civic Center

UPDATED 9:35AM MONDAY

Two different COVID-19 drive thru test services open in Malibu today … both with different purposes … both for different people.

At 6 in the morning … Malibu Urgent Care start seeing the first of 150 sick people …who have made prior appointments.

And at 10 in the morning … the City of Malibu will open its drive thru test center … for first responders and essential workers like grocery store and pharmacy employees … so they can get tested. 

City Manager Reva Feldman tells us she expects a two-day turnaround for test results.

NEWSCART 75517 REVA TESTS 

REPORTER: “okay that’s starts at 10 o’clock on Monday morning how many times do you think you’ll be able to accomplish on Monday and Tuesday each day?”

FELDMAN: “they are hoping they can one hundred tests every day.

“We are hoping it will flow pretty smoothly and if there’s need for more we’ll certainly do as many as we possibly can.

“The actual test just takes a couple of minutes.

“Individuals will be asked to provide their name and information … address and phone number … and then it’s a self administering test that they’ll be handed and they’ll do in the comfort of their own car … with their windows up … and then they just handed back to a person who will drop it into a bin where it will be sent to a lab.

“They are FDA approved nasal swab test that take about a two day turnaround to get information weather is positive or negative. And the lab reports the testing results to the Los Angeles county department of public health.

REPORTER: “Okay now … persons who have COVID-19 symptoms who are self-quarantined, (or) self-isolated right now … they should wait until Wednesday to go down for this?”

FELDMAN: “We would ask that they wait until Wednesday.

“Obviously … if someone is not well they should certainly contact their physician and take the direction of their physician.

“If they need a test sooner or any kind of medical care we certainly don’t want them waiting to take care of themselves.

“But if they can wait until Wednesday they can be tested then.”

City Manager Reva Feldman says the city’s test center will be limited to “high risk” first responders and essential workers until Wednesday … then it opens to the public.

It is first-come, first served, and can handle 100 tests per day.

The city effort is a cooperative effort between the city and the Covid Clinic, which was founded by a group of individuals dedicated to providing COVID testing for all.

It is led by Dr. Matthew Abinante of Elevated Health in Huntington Beach, CA in partnership with CORE, Sean Penn’s emergency and disaster relief organization,” the city said in its announcement.

On Wednesday … the city test center opens up for anyone.

No medical triage.

First come first served.

And if you have insurance …. they will bill your insurance company … which must pay under the law.

But that’s only if you are sick.

People who are not sick … or who do not have insurance… will have to pay case or credit card.

The cost is about 75 dollars.

The hotline for information ….  310 853-1454  … it’s a tape.

It’s better to go to the website ….

Over at the Malibu Urgent Care Center … a second day of testing was added for Tuesday.

Doctor Dan Katz has 150 tests for today ,… and a second batch of tests have been secured for Tuesday.

Katz and his staff are doing triage … scheduling tests for people based on medical screenings and setting appointment schedules.

This morning … an orderly process … one car there at 6 a-m.… and he is screening people to make sure those who are sick or otherwise in need of tests get the first ones.

Katz tells KBUU News that he will eventually extend testing to all persons in the city, but the first tests  will be for persons showing symptoms of the disease, and who are in susceptible medical conditions.

Katz is using a grant from the Malibu Foundation to administer 150 tests on Monday.  More tests may be administered later in the week.

Back at City Hall … the tests are not first by reservation and there is no medical screening … first come first serve … not only today for first responders but on Wednesday for the general public.

We asked Feldman about the possibility of a big crowd.

NEWSCART 75516 FELDMAN TEST TWO

REPORTER: “Are you worried about … you know … a hundred tests … you may get a thousand cars … I mean we don’t know …are you worried about that tomorrow?   

“I think we’ll be able to handle the amount of cars we have coming in.

“Obviously those first two days Monday and Tuesday are for the first line workers in Malibu … I don’t believe we have a thousand individuals working on the front lines right now.

“We’ve been doing outreach with the grocery stores, and the pharmacies, certainly working with the fire department the sheriff department and our lifeguards.

“So I’m oping it rolls out slowly with those individuals tomorrow but we’re prepared to handle anything we need to handle.”

Malibu City Manager Reva Feldman.

There is no signup sheet for the city clinic … more information is posted at https://covidclinic.org/core/ .

For Malibu Urgent Care, residents can sign up for a 15-minute time to secure their drive-by test at: www.themalibufoundation.org/cv19test or by texting TEST to 833-407-0117.

For the City of Malibu …

L A County is also offering tests … but only by appointment … at nine drive thru centers scattered across the vast county.

Los Angeles County’s tests are strictly limited to County residents who are in the most high-risk categories and most vulnerable.  For people who prefer not to visit a drive-through test center, there are a limited number of tests available at a walk-in clinic.  

We have a link to the County’s website at the KBUU Facebook page  https://lacovidprod.service-now.com/rrs.