Difficulty finding coronavirus test kits in many parts of California and delays in getting results are fueling growing frustration and contributing to a wave of infections that in just two weeks The number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 has doubled.
For many activities, a negative virus detection test is needed, from going to work or boarding a plane, to going to a sporting event.
Health
The delay in obtaining the result — or the impossibility of finding a test — can make people who are asymptomatic or with very mild symptoms think they are not infected and go on with their normal lives.
Advertisement“If you take a test and it comes back positive, you know you have to isolate yourself,” said Abraar Karan, an infectious disease physician at Stanford University. "If you can't get tested, and you can't afford to unknowingly quarantine, then surely some people go out and infect others."
The increase in infections in California has led to a high demand for tests that, in many places, simply cannot be found. Some regional programs that allowed samples to be sent for analysis were suspended due to the sharp rise in demand.
In places where tests are available, it is sometimes necessary to wait in line for hours to access one.
< p> Governor Gavin Newsom announced the mobilization of the California National Guard to set up new testing centers and increase their capacity. More than 200 troops will be deployed at 50 sites to assist clinical staff and control crowds, he added.@Heisenberg_6205 It is interesting stuff, but honestly to really contribute you'd have to have a strong foundation… https://t .co/bKF22W6PwF
— 𝙲𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚜 𝚁𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚕 Mon Jul 26 13:52:50 +0000 2021
California
In addition, there are delays in getting results. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, said she heard it took nine days for a lab to come up with results, longer than it might take a person exposed to COVID. -19 in quarantine.
Some have resorted to paying $100 or more for a rapid test, but it's something many can't afford.
Like the rest of the country, California has been overwhelmed by the omicron variant, which spreads more easily than other strains of the coronavirus.
In addition, it is easier for it to infect people who have already been vaccinated or who have already had the disease than its predecessors, although it also seems less likely to cause severe disease.
Since Christmas, more than 5,000 people have been admitted to California hospitals with COVID-19. In many cases, they came to the centers for another reason and found out about the infection after a screening test.
State models used to forecast the impact of the virus show that California could break its record for hospitalizations with 23,000 coronavirus patients in a month.
