With just a few days to go before Christmas, many Central Coast residents are trying out COVID-19 tests. This, along with the increase in cases, now affects community testing sites.
Many test sites in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties have no appointments available. Santa Barbara County officials say the main reason for this is the upcoming holidays.
“Some of them may be related to people worried about the holiday season. We saw it during the Thanksgiving vacation,” said Matt Higgs, Santa Barbara County’s EMS systems coordinator.
Higgs is one of Santa Barbara County’s COVID-19 testing contacts and says availability at free county testing sites right now is very minimal.
Some are fully booked, while the fastest appointments in others are not until Christmas Eve in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.
The results also take longer.
Shylo Tuter was tested at a county location in Paso Robles and calls the process quick.
“They went back to me, tested me and I mean it was a very quick process. I went in and out, which was great because I didn’t feel good,” Tuter said.
Tuter says he had symptoms and believes this is the main reason the test could be done quickly.
Others without symptoms consider the experience more difficult.
According to Santa Barbara County public health, county testing sites do not require you to have symptoms, but may not be the case for other medical providers.
“Some clinical providers require some people to be symptomatic before the test is done, but this is an internal decision based on the organization that provides it,” Higgs said.
At Med Stop Urgent Care in San Luis Obispo, Dr. Brian Roberts says he is seeing a record number of more than 100 patients a day wanting to get tested.
“I’m going to Hawaii or I’m going to Alaska, I have some trip I’ve planned, so a trip or seeing relatives is a little over half,” Dr. Roberts said.
Although local health officials advise against traveling on vacation, both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties expect test sites to be affected during and after the holiday season.
Santa Barbara County officials say they plan to expand their test sites soon.
Prices for COVID-19 tests at non-county locations can range from no cost to more than $ 100.
If you’re interested in quick testing, Rite-Aid and CVS provide testing at various locations in SLO and Santa Barbara counties.
For more information on test sites, you can visit:
Santa Barbara County COVID-19 Testing Website:
https://publichealthsbc.org/testing/
COVID-19 Testing Website for San Luis County:
https://www.emergencyslo.org/en/testing-locations.aspx