Some San Diego libraries have partnered with the county to administer free rapid COVID-19 tests and administered all 70,000 to residents within a day.
These tests have been distributed to county branches and libraries in the cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, Carlsbad, Escondido, Coronado, and Oceanside. According to a County spokesperson, the partnership focused on areas that are not close to testing facilities.
The county announced the outage on social media and credited the rapid pace of distribution due to high demand. The highest number of daily cases in almost a year was announced by the county on Wednesday with nearly 3,700 cases reported.
These numbers come as no surprise to county health officials as they predicted a jump in cases with holiday gatherings. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed COVID-19 isolation guidelines this week to cut its recommended isolation time to five days for people infected with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to President Biden publicly said Thursday morning there was a need to cut the isolation period for asymptomatic people to keep society running as the nation is hit with the highly contagious omicron variant.
“The CDC made a decision to balance what's good for public health at the same time as keeping the society running," Fauci continued, adding that the CDC "thought it out well" though the decision was not "100 percent risk-free."
Local health officials continue to encourage vaccination, the use of face masks, and testing to limit the spread of the virus. The Director of the CDC, Rochelle Walensky, said on GMA Wednesday reminding people about testing guidelines for those who may have been exposed
“Our recommendation if you are exposed to the virus in all of those recommendations,” she said. “We clearly say the best practice would be to get a test at five days after exposure.”
It was unclear whether the free rapid test program was a one-time event or would be continued long-term. The public is advised to visit the county’s webpage, contact a pharmacy or healthcare provider for testing availability.
