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In a move that reflects a budding Bay Area trend, Oakland on Monday opened a second drive-thru site for free coronavirus testing, this one catering to people who provide direct services to the public, such as healthcare workers and grocery store and food bank employees.
On the same day, San Francisco opened a drive-thru center for first responders to be tested at Piers 30-32. Drive-thru testing centers for people with various symptoms of COVID-19 like a fever of at least 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit had previously opened at fire stations in Hayward and Fremont.
“Since the beginning of this pandemic, Oakland has recognized that we first need to take care of those who are taking care of us,” Mayor Libby Schaaf said at a news conference Monday announcing the testing program.
The new Oakland site is the parking lot of Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center and will be open Mondays through Saturdays. As many as 240 tests will be taken daily to determine who has contracted COVID-19, with results expected to take two to five days to be processed, Schaaf said.
Last week, Oakland opened a drive-thru testing site for first responders including police officers and firefighters, as well as city workers who are symptomatic and meet criteria to be tested.
Between the two drive-thru sites, the mayor said up to 500 tests total can be conducted every day. The city is also “scouting locations” for other possible testing sites, she said.
The Kaiser Convention site won’t be be open to the general public and Oakland organizations will need to contact the city to get their workers approved for testing, at covid19testing@oaklandca.gov, the mayor said. Those who qualify are healthcare providers including those who work in hospitals, clinics or a community health center; employees of grocery stores and food banks; restaurant workers; homeless service providers including shelter and outreach; funeral home providers; staff of childcare facilities; and staff of residential facilities and shelters for seniors, adults and children.
Doctors from Brown & Toland Physicians will do the testing and the operational support will be provided by La Clinica de la Raza, a local healthcare center. The tests will be sent to Lab Corps to process and return.
Funding for the testing came through philanthropic donations by Brown & Toland, the Hellman Foundation, and Blue Shield of California, the mayor said. Councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas, whose district includes the testing site, said the donations were arranged through the city’s COVID-19 Relief Fund, which the city set up to help fund anti-coronavirus efforts.
“We believe that widespread testing is critical now in our efforts to contain this pandemic,” said Jane Garcia, chief executive officer of La Clinica. “…This is exactly what we need at this time.”
Karen Caruso, a nurse practitioner at the Kaiser Convention site, said at the 10 a.m. news conference that at least seven people were already waiting to be tested.
Schaaf mentioned the second testing site during a virtual town hall meeting last Thursday.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed meanwhile announced the opening of a drive-thru site on Monday at Piers 30-32 for first-responders such as police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies, health care workers and other city employees. The San Francisco site will test about 200 people a day.
Fremont opened a similar testing site at a fire station last week and Hayward the week before, also at a fire station. Fremont’s drive-thru prioritizes healthcare workers, while Hayward’s was the first of its kind in the Bay Area to allow anyone who met the coronavirus symptoms threshold to be tested without a doctor’s recommendation.
Staff photographer Dylan Bouscher contributed to this story.
