Cristian Carlos.
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors Chairman David J. Canepa acknowledged that COVID-19 screening efforts in San Mateo County are insufficient, after Peninsula 360 Press published «Chaos and exclusion at COVID-19 testing in Redwood City»The problematic process of obtaining a COVID-19 screening test is noted.
During the program Hecho en CaliforniaOn the Peninsula 360 Press, 1010 AM's Marcos Gutierrez picked up the column and got in touch with David J. Canepa, who pointed out that during the last few COVID-19 screening days in San Mateo County, the weekly maximum of 5,000 tests has been reached, causing people to face long waiting lines, time that the Latino population does not have due to their work schedules.
In that interview, Canepa acknowledged the journalistic work of Peninsula 360 Press and confirmed the published version.
Canepa attributed the difficulties San Mateo County is facing to the shortage of COVID-19 home kits in private sector pharmacies. Because of the current situation, David J. Canepa pledged to redouble his efforts to expedite testing.
"We have to solve it because if we don't, the problem will persist."Canepa said about the problem of the lack of domestic kits and their high demand. "The federal government cannot depend, right now, on the private sector. We have to quadruple those efforts."He emphasized, which would result in about 20,000 tests a week in San Mateo in the near future.
Over the past few months, the U.S., as well as other nations, has seen a significant increase in cases of COVID-19 due to the presence of the omicron variant of the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus causing the disease from 40 to nearly 250 confirmed coronavirus cases per day.
After delta, omicron became the predominant variant in the U.S. and the rest of the world and has led to an escalation in cases of COVID-19, coupled with public laxity in prevention measures and family gatherings in recent months, people are going to screening centers to get tested for the coronavirus.
However, people in San Mateo County face logistical and bureaucratic difficulties in getting tested to provide public certainty about their status in the face of new SARS-CoV-2 infections.
As Peninsula 360 Press previously reported, the lack of coronavirus screening kits, the difficulty faced by people in the Latino community in registering, and the high number of people waiting to be tested result in an ineffective system in San Mateo that used to work well.
In addition to the shortage of testing, individuals who are unable to line up in their cars find it difficult to walk to screening centers and do not have accessibility options that facilitate walking; that is, even when the Latino population has been able to register for a COVID-19 test, excluded due to the technological means needed to schedule an appointment, they are not offered accessible opportunities to facilitate their application.
If a person is suspected to have been in contact with an active case of COVID-19 or has any of the symptoms of coronavirus, a test to confirm a positive or negative result is necessary; however, the speed with which results must be delivered is vital for persons with a positive result to avoid spread and seek medical attention; otherwise, as has been reported since the beginning of the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 can be fatal.
