COVID Surge: Nurse Struggles To Get Tested As Pleasanton Site Runs Out Of Tests - 'Just Stressful'
PLEASANTON (KPIX 5) -- With COVID-19 cases surging, testing sites like the one at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton continue to reach capacity each day, with tests running out by midmorning.
Infectious disease experts told KPIX 5 COVID cases are skyrocketing in Alameda County and that it's going to get worse before it gets better.
And what happens when a health care worker gets sick? KPIX 5 spotted a nurse who showed up at the test site to get tested but it was too late.
"It's not just a head cold. I have to get tested," said the health care worker, who did not want to be identified.
It was three in the afternoon Wednesday when the front line hospital worker tried to get tested for the coronavirus at the Fairgrounds with no luck. The gates had been locked since 11 in the morning when tests ran out.
She said she has symptoms, but even as a front line worker it's a struggle to get tested.
"It's difficult to get tested, it's not easy. Clearly I'm here and it's closed and I just called my boss and he's like 'You can't come in tomorrow.' So like now I have to wake up five in the morning to get tested. I can't go in to work, who knows when I'll be able to go back to work? Because I can't find any rapid test anywhere to get it right away…it's just stressful."
Dr. Jake Scott is an infectious disease physician at Stanford Health Care ValleyCare and said the Bay Area is seeing some of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases yet.
"Most often, the health care workers who get infected are getting infected in the community, not in the hospital. Hospitals are quite safe," Scott said.
Scott said what's more concerning is that health care workers are at risk now more than ever.
When asked who is walking through the doors and particularly the ICU, Scott said, "It is generally people over 65. However, there are a number of patients that I have seen myself that have been in their 20s or 30s that have ended up in the ICU, and some of them have even passed away."
The current situation was explained best by the nurse who couldn't get tested Wednesday.
"At the end of the day, we are the ones you are going to come to get the care you need," she said. "And if we're not able to do that, who's going to do it?"
She said the medical facility she currently works at only gives COVID tests to patients.
