Everyone can get tested regardless of if they are showing symptoms, but asymptomatic patients must have a reason for wanting a test, such as a suspicion that they’ve been recently exposed or a testing requirement from their school or employer. Both the PCR and antibody tests are available. The MedCenter’s three locations, State Street, Milpas, and Fairview, all offer the same COVID testing services. Because Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics is a designated federally qualified health center, the cost of testing for uninsured patients is covered by a federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. It takes between four and seven days on average to receive test results. An antibody test is available, said Susan Lawton, associate medical director at the Neighborhood Clinics. Established SBNC patients receive priority in COVID test appointments, although new patients are accepted if space is available. The Eastside Neighborhood Clinic, Westside Neighborhood Clinic, Isla Vista Neighborhood Clinic, and Goleta Neighborhood Clinic are the four Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics (SBNC) locations offering testing. Beth Prinz puts a test in a tube after testing a patient in their car outside an S.B.
Uninsured patients pay a sliding fee, with the overall cost being as low as $40.
For Medi-Cal and Medicare patients, testing at the health centers is free of charge. Appointment dates are currently three days to two weeks away. The wait time for an appointment averages one to two weeks, and upon being tested it then takes three to five days to receive test results.Īt the five community health centers, patients should make appointments with their doctors to get tested, and new patients must also make appointments beforehand. Across all locations, only the PCR test is offered. Public Health also offers testing to patients of five community health centers - which charge on a sliding scale - at Franklin (Eastside Santa Barbara), at the main Santa Barbara campus, and in Lompoc, Santa Maria, and Carpinteria. The Public Health Department operates three state-funded, free community testing sites in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and Buellton. The Independent contacted some of the county’s major testing sites to get an overview of the services they provide at the present. Some medical practices and labs offer the test, but we do not note it in this report.Īccess to testing services is of the utmost importance to the public as positive cases continue to rise, and guidelines for medical facilities are shifting quickly. A secondary test, an antibody blood sample or serology test, can confirm past infections but has proven unreliable in detecting the specific virus that causes COVID-19.
The widely used nasal swab test, commonly called the PCR test, aims to identify patients currently infected with COVID-19. Most facilities across the county are focusing their efforts toward identifying infected patients rather than testing for potential antibodies from past infections.
Lastly, people with no symptoms who work in lower-risk fields classify as Tier 3 and are prioritized last. People showing symptoms, as well as asymptomatic individuals with chronic medical conditions, those over the age of 60, and people who live or work in a congregate facility, classify as Tier 2. People who have been in close contact with COVID-positive individuals are classified as Tier 1 and given top priority. Get the top stories in your inbox by signing up for our daily newsletter, Indy Today.Īt nearly all health facilities, tests are approved on a tiered system set by County Public Health those with a low-priority situation may not be guaranteed a test. “We were running out of swabs last week, and we had to beg and plead to get more.” Marjorie Newman, medical director at Sansum. But the reality is there are just not enough resources to do that,” said Dr.
“Ideally, if we had unlimited resources, we should be testing anybody and everybody who wants a test. With a strained test supply chain and overwhelmed laboratories, medical facilities have had to limit whom they test, prioritizing essential workers, symptomatic individuals, and at-risk groups over others.Įven for Sansum Clinic, one Santa Barbara’s largest groups of medical-care providers, test materials have been hard to get. Like many other major cities across the U.S., Santa Barbara is seeing rising COVID case numbers coupled with limited testing availability.