Before Christmas, in Sonoma County, about 680 per 100,000 residents were tested every day. There are about 3,400 daily tests across the county. The test volume dropped during the holiday season, before increasing again during the first week of January. County officials reported this week that the daily test rate dropped to about 490 tests, just slightly above the state’s average test rate of 425 daily tests per 100,000 residents.
As part of the statewide pandemic reopening process, counties are adjusted based on local test volume relative to the state’s average test rate. If the local test rate is higher than the state median, the county’s daily virus case rate – a key measure of COVID-19 transmission – is adjusted downward to account for the greatest number of new infections found.
The state assesses the virus transmission benchmarks for all counties every Tuesday.
Last week, Sonoma County’s test volume dropped below the state median, so the county’s daily case rate was adjusted up from 20.8 to 21.2 per 100,000 residents. This week, with a test rate almost exceeding the state median, the county’s daily case rate has been adjusted from 15.3 to 13.8 daily cases per 100,000 people.
The county needs to reduce this case, or daily rate of new virus infections, to 7 or less per 100,000 residents, in order to qualify to move forward with the state’s reopening plan and raise more limits for most companies. For example, the county’s restaurant industry remains restricted to outdoor dining and take-out food. During the recent winter wave, only delivery service was allowed.
“The tests can help detect cases of COVID early and prevent possible outbreaks,” said Mase. “It will also help us to reopen our economy.”
Identification of virus mutations
As new variants of the coronavirus, both foreign and domestically grown, begin to emerge, public health experts stress the importance of testing to identify them.
Dr. John Swartzberg, an infectious disease specialist at UC Berkeley, said that without proper tests done, it is difficult to trace the virus’s trajectory. But also, he said, insufficient testing undermines the ability of public health officials to judge the role that variants of the coronavirus are playing, and will play, in the pandemic.
“Without tests, we were blinded,” said Swartzberg.
D’Arcy Richardson, director of nursing for Sonoma County to respond to COVID-19, agreed. The tests are essential to screen for COVID-19 mutations, she said, some of which can make the virus more transmissible.
“If we don’t have people taking the test, we can’t do this genotyping to look for these new strains from South Africa, the United Kingdom, Brazil,” said Richardson. “It is very important for us to know what is going on to be able to mitigate and stop transmission as soon as possible when we start to see these strains … which can make these wonderful vaccination efforts less effective.”
Fewer tests in hospitals
County public health data shows significant drops in tests conducted at the local public health laboratory, the county’s three major hospitals and the state-owned OptumServe public test sites.
For example, Kaiser Permanente went from doing more than 5,420 coronavirus tests during the first full week of January to 2,871 during the first week of February. Public health laboratory tests dropped from a high of almost 5,000 tests during the week, starting on December 6, 2020, to 2,820 in the first week of February.
Locally, OptumServe, which reached a high of almost 5,000 tests during the first week of January, dropped to 2,650 tests during the first week of this month. In addition, tests at local health clinics declined somewhat during that period, according to county public health data.
Providence St. Joseph Health, which runs Santa Rosa Memorial, Petaluma Valley and Healdsburg hospitals, went from 1,128 weekly virus tests to 819 during the same monthly period.
Dr. Chad Krilich, medical director at Providence St. Joseph Health, said that the COVID-19 tests include those administered in emergency rooms, emergency care centers or hospitals. The declines, he said, may be caused by a real decrease in coronavirus transmission, or possibly by people’s lack of interest in getting tested.
“Ultimately, my concern is that we will not forget what we need to do to see ourselves at this stage of the pandemic,” said Krilich, citing virus testing as a critical item.
You can contact editor Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or [email protected]. On Twitter @pressreno.