Coronavirus: Hundreds of LA County residents waiting for test results, thousands more expected next week
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Hundreds of Angelenos are awaiting the results of their COVID-19 tests and soon thousands more will join them this week.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced on Sunday that large groups of at risk people and first responders would get first priority.
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"So far our first day, we saw great progress. The website is up and running, it didn't crash. It's functioning as planned and about 780 people, probably more by the time I'm speaking now, signed up and got tested today," Garcetti said.
That website Coronavirus.LACity.org takes has an easy questionnaire people can fill out to find out if they qualify.
Those who show symptoms of the virus and are 65 years old, those who show symptoms and have underlying conditions, and those who've been exposed to someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19 are eligible.
The City is currently testing about 1,000 people per day.
"We've tested more than 325 of our leaders on the front lines. First responders, critical city workers, health care professionals, those working with the homeless and others. And we're going to keep expanding that testing capacity," Garcetti said.
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Over the weekend, Riverside County officials starting drive-thru testing in Lake Elsinore. Similar testing was done in Coachella Valley as well.
The process currently takes about ten minutes, and requires people to take a nasal swab.
But it's the scarcity of the tests that's forcing innovation in the private sector.
Everlywell is a health and wellness company that provides at-home testing kits. They've pivoted to making COVID-19 tests, with an initial shipment of 30,000 kits this week and eventually hope to produce a quarter of a million every week.
