People in"high risk settings," including hospitals and prisons, should be tested for the coronavirus, public health officials said.SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California public health officials say local authorities should test people for the coronavirus in “high risk settings” even if they don’t have symptoms, a change aimed at health care workers, prisoners and the homeless.
“The higher risk settings for COVID-19 right now, since we aren’t having cruise ships anymore, are homeless shelters, jails and nursing homes,” said Dr. Bob Kocher, an adjunct professor of medicine at Stanford University and a member of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s task force aimed at increasing coronavirus testing. “For us to contain future outbreaks, we need to be exceptionally good at testing people in those settings.
California is now testing an average of 14,500 people per day, up from an average of 2,000 per day at the beginning of the month. Newsom has said his goal is to test 25,000 people per day by the end of April.