I just got a PCR COVID-19 test in Boulder, Colorado, and what a difference there is between getting one in Boulder and getting one in Santa Barbara.
The Boulder County process is no muss, no fuss, no doctor’s notes or telehealth visits, and — best of all — no appointments necessary. Also, because it is a drive-through system, even if there is a long line, you wait your turn from the comfort of your own car.
You can listen to the radio, check out the latest bad news on your phone screen, read a book, or maybe even have a conversation with someone else in the vehicle (preferably about something other than the pandemic).
Oh, and did I mention — the test is free.
Unlike in Santa Barbara County, where residents are frantically trying to find a place to get a free test, particularly since the Public Health Department shut down the Goleta Community Center site just as cases of the Omicron variant were taking off, in Boulder you just sign up on the Mako Medical website, wait for an email reply that gives you a patient number and QR code, then head on over to the testing site at the Stazio Ballfields, which is only about a 10-minute drive from most parts of town.
The Mako sign-up process itself is simple, too. The company asks only for your name, date of birth and email address. You do have to create a username and password. After that initial registration, all you do is show your QR code on your phone when you arrive at the testing site and you are given a test — easy peasy.
When I tried to register for a test appointment through the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department about a week ago, there were literally no time slots available at the testing trailer in Santa Barbara. For a free PCR test from the county, I would have had to drive nearly an hour to a testing site in Lompoc.
I looked on the Health Department website again on Thursday, Jan. 13, and the earliest time slots for COVID-19 tests were not open in Santa Barbara until Jan. 23 and 26, with only three spots remaining on the 23rd. Checking one more time for a test on the Health Department website on Monday, Jan. 17, it was still a full 10 days (Jan. 27) before an apointment is available.
Seriously?
My two daughters and their families who live in Boulder were looking forward to coming to Santa Barbara for the holidays because they thought the COVID-19 numbers were so much better here — that is, until they realized not nearly as many Santa Barbarans were being tested. Hence, the skewed numbers.
“Living in the ‘Boulder bubble,’ I had no idea how hard it was to get tested in other cities,” my son-in-law Ray Maynez said.
Because many people base their daily activities on local case numbers and positivity rates, the lack of accurate data is confusing at best and dangerous at worst.
Will you order groceries online and have them delivered, or take a chance and shop in-person? Will you go to a doctor appointment now, or wait until the virus risk is lower? Will you send your as-yet-unvaccinated 2-year-old to preschool, or keep her home for the time being?
If the case count is unreliable, making the wrong choice could mean putting yourself and your family at higher risk of catching COVID-19.
Granted, more people are being tested in Santa Barbara, driven primarily by mandates for testing school children. Recent photos show long queues of kids and parents standing in the parking lot at the Earl Warren Showgrounds waiting to be tested.
Last summer and into the fall, a COVID-19 vaccine site was set up in the parking lot at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital, and literally thousands of local residents were able to drive up, stick an arm out their car window and get a lifesaving jab.
Why can’t the county Health Department set up a process like that for COVID-19 testing? Drive-in, poke your schnoz out the window, and wait for an email with the results.
So all that said, and my kvetching aside, there are other ways to get a COVID-19 test other than at the county sites. Noozhawk has reported on this; most recently on Monday; click here for the story.
My personal sources say one of the best-keep secrets in town is the testing site at Direct Relief, where you can make an appointment online or go as a walk-in; there are separate lines for each. If you go without an appointment, it is good to arrive early as those tests are limited in availability. The tests at Direct Relief are free.
Good luck, and be well.
— Marcia Heller is a copy editor for Noozhawk. Contact her at mheller@noozhawk.com.