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Coronavirus: Health Officials Say California Needs To Triple COVID-19 Testing

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Researchers at the Harvard Global Health Institute say California needs to triple the amount of testing that's currently being done to mitigate the coronavirus.

The state put San Francisco on the watch list Friday as local cases continue to surge. On Monday, city officials are expected to issue a new health order requiring private health care providers to offer same-day testing for people with symptoms of COVID-19 or who have been in close contact with an infected person.

San Francisco has seen a surge in cases and hospitalizations recently. It took 38 dayd to go from 2000-to-3000 cases, but just 13 days to go from 4000-to-5000 cases.

Local health officials say the new order will help free up the city's public testing sites.

"My wife hasn't had a problem being tested," said Adam Cooperstein.

Cooperstein's wife signed up on the website SF.gov/GetTested and got an appointment within a week.

Others told us off-camera they signed up for tests and got appointments the same day by hitting the refresh button multiple times on the webpage.

But city officials say there's an issue.

"As demand grows because of the current surge access to appointments is getting harder and test results are taking longer," said Director of Health Dr. Grant Colfax.

The city says an average of close to 2600 tests are being conducted per day and 60 percent on average at public testing sites.

That's one of the reasons for the pending health order on Monday.

"This will help and will free up the capacity of San Francisco's public testing programs with the goal of allowing residents who are uninsured or are members of impacted communities to get tested in a more timely manner," said Colfax.

Cooperstein will be tested for the 5th time next week at work, being a hospital employee.

He accompanied his wife for her second test, since she's an essential worker in close contact with children.

"We have very specific times we go at my job so there's no line but to me it looked good the way they did it," said Cooperstein.

"The truth is we need to continue to expand testing in particular in the Mission and Latin X community and we are continuing to build that capacity," said Colfax.

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