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‘Free’ COVID testing starts Monday at transit center
Lathrop also offers drive-thru testing at Generations Center
Covid testing
Healthcare workers at Golden Valley Health Center’s new office in Ceres are testing select patients for coronavirus in the parking lot. The service started on Tuesday. - photo by Jeff Benziger

Manteca and Lathrop will have their own COVID-19 testing sites where people can be tested for the coronavirus whether they are displaying any symptoms that suggest they might be infected.

Starting Monday HR Support — the same firm that has been offering testing for a number of weeks in Tracy — will offer free drive-thru COVID-19 testing Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. until a date when the demand for testing drops off.

They are equipped to do 195 on any given day.

The test site in Manteca will be at the Transit Center at 220 Moffat Boulevard. The Lathrop test site will be at the Generations Center at 450 Spartan Avenue.

HR Support also offers testing Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at West Valley Mall in Tracy as well as 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the San Joaquin County Fairground in Stockton.

 You can go to hrsupportpros.com/covid-19-testing-sites-1 to sign up for time slots at any of the locations. They have the ability to test a maximum of 30 people during an hour.

“The county is trying to get more people tested so we can get more negative test results so we don’t move backwards (into more restrictive social distancing rules), noted Manteca Fire Battalion Chief Dave Marques who serves as the coordinator of the city’s emergency operations command center. “The goal ultimately is to move the county into a less restrictive tier.”

Marques said when the San Joaquin County Health Department approached the city to see if they could provide a site for a testing center, they jumped at the opportunity.

HR Support is doing free PCR COVID-19 testing regardless if you have insurance, Medicare, MediCal. You will receive the test results from 48 to 72 hours from the time you take the test.

Please bring your government ID and insurance card if you have them.

 Current San Joaquin

COVID-19 data

Pursuant to the State’s Blueprint for reopening and current COVID-19 data, San Joaquin County is currently in the Red Tier (Substantial). The current case rate is 6.6, and the positivity rate is 4.1%. The positivity rate for the Equity Metric is 7.4%.

You can help the County move into a less restrictive tier by following the Health Orders and guidelines, wearing a mask when in public, washing your hands regularly, practicing physical distancing, getting tested, and limiting mixing with people outside your household. Free testing is still available at many locations in San Joaquin County besides the HR Support sites mentioned previously. To find testing locations or to schedule appointments, utilize the links at SJReady.org.

Postings on the San Joaquin County COVID-19 dashboard on Thursday at 2 p.m.  show 708 persons with active cases of COVID-19 out of 776,000 San Joaquin County residents are currently positive with the virus although they are not necessarily sick. That is the number once you subtract the 19,947 people that health officials have determined to have recovered from the 21.138 cases since March

Many of the recovered may never have been ill. the same goes for a large number of those bnow with active COVID-19 designation. The mask order and social distancing is designed to protect people from those who may not know they are carrying the virus and who may never show symptoms.

There were 33 new cases received on Thursday.

There have been 483 deaths in San Joaquin County. Of those, 11.5 percent did not have pre-existing conditions such as asthma, obesity, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease, or diabetes

There were 30 COVID-19 patients countywide as of Thursday with 6 using ICU beds.

There were three COVID-19 patients at Doctors Hospital of Manteca with one in ICU and five COVID patients with one in ICU at Kaiser Manteca Hospital.

 

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com