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Quest Diagnostics to begin testing for coronavirus locally

Quest Diagnostics
Posted at 10:45 AM, Mar 09, 2020
and last updated 2020-03-09 13:46:32-04

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Kern County will soon be able to test for local cases of the coronavirus here in town.

The Kern County Health Department announced Monday during its coronavirus briefing that testing for COVID-19 will begin at Quest Diagnostics.

So far there are still no confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Kern County.

Public health said that with Quest Diagnostics performing local tests, more residents will be able to get tested and this means public health will not be able to report on every case being tested. Public health will continue to report on any tests that come back positive.

According to public health, there are 114 confirmed cases in California and one death resulting from coronavirus.

Nationwide there are 472 confirmed cases and 19 deaths total over 35 states.

Nine local patients have met the criteria for testing. Three results came back negative and six results are still pending.

You can follow along here and for more information on what you can do to lower your risk of getting infected, visit the Kern County public health website.