Free private testing for coronavirus has arrived in Sacramento. Here’s what to know

A free drive-up coronavirus testing program sponsored by Google’s sister company Verily is now up and running at Sacramento’s Cal Expo.

Tuesday marked the soft opening for the drive-through testing initiative, called Project Baseline, expanding into Sacramento County. The initiative is aimed at closing the gap on the dearth of testing conducted across California for COVID-19, the potentially deadly disease caused by the virus that has infected more than 2,400 people in California as of Tuesday afternoon.

But the Verily testing is still limited. People can’t just drive up to Cal Expo to get tested, and anyone without an appointment will be turned away.

Instead, Verily uses a website to screen patients, asking interested people to fill out a questionnaire to see if they qualify for the in-person test.

The testing service, which will be operated by county agencies, is not intended for people with severe coronavirus symptoms. Rather, it’s meant to help ease the burden on hospital and government labs by testing residents a broader swath of the adult population with milder symptoms.

A Sacramento Bee review of the questionnaire found that Verily is still restricting tests because of capacity issues to those who are part of high-priority groups, such as being a healthcare worker, being over the age of 60 or having existing health conditions.

On Tuesday, signs for the testing “admission station” could be seen posted at the fairgrounds, with one worker holding a sign that said “Please roll up your window.” During a drive-through test, drivers and passengers typically remain seated in the car as a healthcare provider take a sample from up the patient’s nose and or throat.

Verily launched two initial sites in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties last week and has since tested more than 1,200 people at its, the company reported in a blog post Monday.

“In the first week of operations, we scaled testing to 20X the capacity at launch,” the company posted.

It’s unclear how many people will be able to get tested at Cal Expo, and who will be prioritized for testing. Margaret Mohr, Cal Expo deputy general manager, said it is “undetermined” when testing will conclude at the fairgrounds, and a Verily official said they would stay “as long as we are needed.”

Aggressive testing helps public health officials get a clearer sense of where the spread of the coronavirus is worse, and how to prioritize resources. But limited testing materials like swabs and chemical reagent from the federal government has hampered efforts to target and contain the spread.

It also helps provide a layer of confirmation for residents wondering whether they should really stay home. Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all Californians to stay at home except for essential chores and jobs, but someone who is asymptomatic and doesn’t realize they’re positive for the virus could be unknowingly spreading it if they continue to go outside and interact with others.

Sacramento County’s public health lab has been conducting tests for about 50 people a day, health director Dr. Peter Beilenson said last week. There also a patchwork of testing done by hospitals such as Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health, and private companies like Labcorp and Quest Diagnostics, but it’s unclear how many have been tested in the Sacramento region through those services.

Those private tests are conducted on the recommendation of a doctor, and Beilenson said health care providers are still rationing tests to those who are most at-risk for experiencing – or who are already experiencing – the worse of the COVID-19 symptoms, as well as those with essential jobs like health care workers.

Beilenson previously told The Bee that drive-through testing would become available at several sites in Sacramento County using commercial test materials at the end of this week, but additional details on those sites have not been released.