SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom stated California will expand daily coronavirus testing fivefold over the next few weeks in an effort to correct a testing backlog that, at peak, left 65,000 people waiting for test results, some for as many as 12 days.
As of Saturday 126,700 Californians have been tested for COVID-19 and 13,000 were awaiting results.
Newsom took responsibility for the inadequate testing in California.
“Let me just acknowledge at the outset that the testing space has been a challenging one for us, and I own that. I have a responsibility as your governor to do better and do more testing in the state of California,” he said.
Californians can expect the following changes in the next few weeks:
- Five to seven high-capacity testing hubs around the state through a partnership with UC San Diego and UC Davis
- A Stanford University test that determines if someone has developed an immune response to COVID-19 and can go back to work
- A five-minute test from Abbott Laboratories, which has committed to 75 testing sites in California
