Orange County leaders this week doubled down on the latest push to make COVID-19 testing easier and more accessible to the masses.
Starting Monday, Nov. 7, county leaders expanded a saliva testing program so anyone in Orange County now can order a do-it-yourself kit to their doorstep.
After the campaign’s successful first phase, Orange County residents already are clamoring for the free kits, said Dr. Clayton Chau, OC Health Care Agency director and county health officer.
“There was something like 10,000 requests” on Monday, Chau said, adding that he hopes demand remains high, in part to provide public health officials with new intelligence on the virus’s stealthy movements.
Residents who order a test kit by mail will get a box in a day or two. Inside is a funneled tube – that’s where the spit goes.
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A free at home coronavirus saliva test kit is now available for Orange County residents. This kit was photographed at the Family Health Matters in Fullerton on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, one of 5 clinics distributing the kit. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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A free at home coronavirus saliva test kit is now available for Orange County residents. This kit was photographed at the Family Health Matters in Fullerton on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, one of 5 clinics distributing the kit. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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A free at home coronavirus saliva test kit is now available for Orange County residents. This kit was photographed at the Family Health Matters in Fullerton on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, one of 5 clinics distributing the kit. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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A free at home coronavirus saliva test kit is now available for Orange County residents. This kit was photographed at the Family Health Matters in Fullerton on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, one of 5 clinics distributing the kit. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
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A free at home coronavirus saliva test kit is now available for Orange County residents. This kit was photographed at the Family Health Matters in Fullerton on Wednesday, December 9, 2020, one of 5 clinics distributing the kit. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Then, participants are prompted to pack up their sample and ship it with a prepaid label back to the county’s partner in the program, Aliso Viejo-based Ambry Genetics. Once the box arrives at the lab, results are expected within two days.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, all testing kits were snapped up; Ambry’s web portal said new “testing slots” would open the next day at 6 a.m. Health Care Agency officials this week said the lab could process 4,000 tests per day.
County leaders launched the initiative Nov. 23, mailing and handing out about 12,000 kits to residents of two hot spot cities, Anaheim and Santa Ana, through Dec. 6.
At the time, officials suggested taking and shipping the self-tests become a new pandemic routine for residents. In-person nasal swabs are still best, and most widely available, for those with COVID-19 symptoms.
Dr. Margaret Bredehoft, deputy agency director at the Health Care Agency, said recently saliva test orders over those first two weeks outpaced the program’s daily limit, which is “temporarily in place to guarantee results are available 24 to 48 hours after testing.”
Officials have said the tests are just as accurate as ordinary nasal swab tests.
“When the saliva sample is collected correctly, the test is estimated to be nearly 100% accurate,” Ambry’s website says.
Officials have said the county will have 500,000 of the tests available by the end of December.
The latest testing strategy, part of the ongoing public health effort to get ahead of the coronavirus by tracking its speed and spread through testing and contact tracing, builds on a countywide testing operation – from doctors’ offices to drive-thru spots – that samples more than 100,000 patients per week.
For Chau, a robust testing network must go hand-in-hand with the upcoming COVID-19 vaccine rollout, he said. In part because testing will need to continue as some are reluctant to be first in line for the new shot.
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