4 SF Test Sites Temporarily Reduce Hours Due to Staff Shortages, Lab Demands

Four COVID-19 investigating sites successful San Francisco are temporarily reducing hours owed to staffing shortages and accrued request connected laboratories, wellness officials said Monday.

The caller hours volition mean 250 less tests per day, oregon astir 4 percent of the mean 6,000 tests present being administered regular by sites affiliated with the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

On Monday, respective radical near a investigating tract successful the metropolis frustrated aft waiting each greeting to get tested and past beryllium told to instrumentality the greeting after.

In summation to closing early, immoderate investigating sites person to outright adjacent owed to their machine strategy shutting down and not knowing erstwhile it'll tally again.

The California Department of Public Health is allowing wellness attraction providers and hospitals to fto asymptomatic staffers instrumentality to enactment successful immoderate situations.

San Francisco Department of Public Health said they person much than doubled the magnitude of tests they process since the omicron surge began aboriginal successful December. However, arsenic of Monday, they are cutting backmost due to the fact that of staffing issues - including staffers investigating affirmative and backlog successful processing time.

"We’ve got folks that are calling successful sick and truthful we request backup we request much enactment from the state, we request much tests, much radical who tin supply the tests, said District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney.

The 4 locations that volition spot reduced hours, starting Monday, are:

-- Ella Hill Hutch, simplification of 3 hours successful the afternoon. (New hours: 8 a.m. -2 p.m.)

-- Southeast Health Center, simplification of 3 hours successful the greeting connected Monday only. (Monday only: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; past instrumentality to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday)

-- Alemany, simplification of 2 hours successful the evening. (New hours: 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.)

-- SOMA (7th/Brannan), simplification of 3 hours successful the greeting opening Tuesday. (New hours: 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.)

"People being told to spell get tested if they are not feeling good oregon they were exposed, and they spell to get a trial and they find retired that determination aren't immoderate available," Haney said. "So understandably that makes them frightened and are panicking. Some are calling 9-11, showing up to exigency rooms and that creates much strain."

The wellness section is bringing successful further resources to augment capacity, including implicit 150,000 accelerated tests owed to get aboriginal this week, wellness officials said Monday. In summation immoderate sites person been expanding efficiency, and truthful the measurement of tests, done supervised self-swabbing methods.

For updated hours of cognition astatine SFDPH-affiliated and wellness strategy sites, spell to: sf.gov/gettested