State officials adopted new guidelines Tuesday that describe who should be prioritized for the COVID-19 test in California as cases increase and counties reported delayed lab results.
The new rules mark a departure from the Newsom administration’s plans for anyone, including those without symptoms, to be screened for the virus in California. Instead, the guidelines adopt levels that prioritize testing of hospitalized patients with coronavirus symptoms, other symptomatic individuals, and then higher-risk asymptomatic individuals, according to state health officials.
“Today’s testing guidelines … set priorities – Tier 1 and Tier 2 priorities – that really seek to focus our initial testing on people who have symptoms,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, state secretary of Health and Human Services. , during a briefing on Tuesday. Through such tests, he said, “we can make really important efforts to suppress disease transmission.”
The change comes as California reports more than 330,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, as well as increases in hospitalizations and the rate of positive results in the past two weeks. Some counties are reporting bottlenecks in testing labs that have resulted in delayed results or shortages of supplies as more people search for tests.
The new state testing guidelines are:
Tier 1:
- Hospitalized patients with symptoms of COVID-19
- Tests conducted by state and local health officials to investigate and control outbreaks.
- Close contacts of those who test positive for the virus
Level 2:
- Anyone with symptoms of COVID-19
- Symptom-free people living or working in high-risk settings; those who work in high-risk settings and are frequently exposed to the public or to others who may have the virus, such as in qualified nursing homes, in residential care facilities for the elderly, in homeless shelters and correctional facilities, in medical and emergency services offices
- Hospital patients who need to be tested before hospital admission or a medical operation, or at discharge to another care facility
Level 3:
- Workers who have frequent interactions with the public or who cannot keep six feet away from others, including retailers, manufacturers, food services, agriculture, food manufacturing, public transportation, education, and child care.
Level 4:
- Asymptomatic persons who are not included in the previous levels “but believe that they have a risk of becoming actively infected”
- Routine testing by employers.
