![]() ![]() Just as flights are being canceled, classes are being canceled because there is no one to take the place of sick teachers,” Borden said. “The schools are facing what many industries are facing during this Omicron surge. Rapid antigen testing is a critical tool in the effort to combat the pandemic as COVID-19 variants emerge.The situation is bad largely because many school staff are testing positive for COVID and have to miss school, said Kisha Borden, president of the San Diego Unified teachers union.Īs was the case before the break, students are being consolidated into auditoriums and media centers because their teachers are out sick and there aren’t enough substitutes to cover their classes, Borden said. “Our goal from the beginning has been to democratize access to American-made COVID-19 diagnostics across the country. “Part of that production is dedicated to fulfilling a 12-month federal government contract estimated at approximately 100 million QuickVue® At-Home OTC COVID-19 Tests,” he wrote. “Our people are working tirelessly to increase our manufacturing capacity to a run-rate of 70 million tests per month by the end of the year to provide our communities with access to affordable COVID-19 testing. “We are anticipating continued strong demand approaching the holidays based on the recent rise in infection rates and our discussions with employers, institutions and the federal government,” CEO Douglas Bryant said in an email. San Diego-based Quidel Corporation is one of the companies that makes home testing kits. Hours and locations of library sites can be found at Durckel said the federal government has announced that more free test kits will become available in the future. “Yesterday, we saw about 500 more than we had in the previous days.”įor people who want to beat the lines, free home testing kits have been made available at all 33 county library branches.Ĭounty communications officer Donna Durckel said San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency had received 20,000 at-home rapid COVID-19 test kits from the federal government and distribution to library sites began Wednesday and would continue until supplies are exhausted. “We are seeing a large surge of people coming to our testing sites,” she said Wednesday. The City Heights Recreation Center in San Diego had administered 1,060 tests that day, and 4,400 were conducted countywide. Testing, by comparison, is available across the region.ĭenise Foster, chief nursing officer for San Diego County, said the CSUSM site in North County is one of busiest sites, with 1,274 tests conducted Tuesday. They would only say that about two dozen pharmacies were selected “based on community impact from the pandemic.” ![]() The exact number of doses, and precisely how doctors will be able to make sure high-risk patients get them, was being closely held by the county Thursday. ![]() The antiviral drug was recently given government approval for its ability to significantly reduce the chances of severe disease if prescribed early in the course of illness. Meanwhile, a dose of good news arrived, with the health department announcing that some pharmacies will soon be receiving shipments of Paxlovid. Willard had been in line for about 15 minutes late Wednesday afternoon, and a security guard working the site said some people had waited up to three hours to be tested earlier that week. ![]()
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