On Oct. 19, the Sonoma County Administrator’s Office released a statement informing residents of new COVID-19 testing centers. These pop-up centers, which will double the amount already present in the county, are to be placed throughout areas in which residents are disproportionately impacted. 

According to the county’s statement, “The effort is a part of new County Department of Health Services initiative to address COVID-19 disparities, particularly within Latinx and indigenous communities in Sonoma County, and to reduce overall community spread, allowing the County to move out of the most-restrictive purple tier in the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy.” 

The county is advising residents in these particular areas to be tested, whether or not they are showing symptoms of the virus. The encouragement for all residents to be tested comes from the hope that the county can slow the spread of the virus and move out of restricted status. Doubling the amount of testing centers in high-risk areas will create a more controlled group.

The effort is currently long-term, and has had $16 million invested into the project. According to North Bay Business Journal, “The broad plan also includes giving $30 gift cards to induce people to get tested and granting $1,216 one-time stipends and hotel vouchers to residents who contract the virus but have difficulty isolating at home.” 

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Sonoma County has been stuck in the 

“purple” tier, due to a slow response to the virus during summer reopenings. Now more than ever, the pressure is on. Sonoma remains the only Bay area county unable to be given a less-restrictive status due to its COVID-19 transmission rates. Testing via the new sites is highly encouraged due to the county’s restrictive status.

In Santa Rosa at Andy’s Unity Park, testing will be available from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesdays. Testing will be available during the same time on Thursdays at the Roseland Library in Santa Rosa. In Healdsburg, testing will be available at the Healdsburg Day Labor Center from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. And in Rohnert Park, testing will be available at the Burton Avenue Recreation Center from 9 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Fridays. At these locations, there are no out-of-pocket costs due immediately upon testing.

For more information on the new testing locations, visit sonomacounty.ca.gov.