Don’t get tested. Get tested. Don’t get tested. Get tested.
Based on the fluctuating availability of supplies, Santa Barbara County health officials have flip-flopped in their messaging on mass COVID-19 testing. This Friday afternoon, they made another about-face and announced that all members of the public ― regardless of their potential exposure or symptoms ― should get screened for the virus. And not just for the benefit of identifying and isolating cases.
By simply conducting more tests, explained Nick Clay, director of the county’s Emergency Medical Services Agency, the county can help pull itself down from the dreaded purple tier of the state’s new color-coded monitoring system into the red tier, which would allow certain business operations ― including partial indoor dining and movie theaters with limited seating ― to resume. In order to move to the red tier, Santa Barbara must reduce its average daily case rate (or number of new cases per 100,000 people) from 8.3 to 7.0.