Monterey County receives its first wave of COVID rapid tests

MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION) --- Monterey County is taking a big step forward to combat COVID and the testing supply shortage, by investing up to $1 million to secure more rapid tests. On Wednesday, the first wave of kits, about 750 of them, arrived. Another 50,000 kits are expected by the end of this week. However, due to limited quantities, they’ll be going to selected priority groups. 

From health care facilities, schools, day cares, home support services, to faith based institutions and shelters, eligible organizations within these priority based groups can submit a request to the county to receive rapid tests. Lightspeed Testing has already signed up.

"We put a request in with the county. They're going to have their own prioritization as to who gets tests, and that's okay. We're happy if we can get some tests out of the county, that'll be great. If the county has other priorities, that’s great too,” said Sameer Bakhda, M.D., CEO and Founder of Lightspeed Testing. 

Just like those struggling to find and buy at home rapid tests, testing facilities like Lightspeed, have also found it tough to order needed supplies to continue running. 

"We put orders for thousands of tests back in November and December, and we're told that they were coming and then all of a sudden they said, Nope, sorry. We went through all of our backlog and then had to temporarily suspend our sites for a couple of weeks,” continued Dr. Bakhda.

With high demands and short supplies, requests for county provided rapid tests will be limited. Regardless, Dr. Bakhda is just happy to see more tests for the community. 

"Testing is a really important part of this. It's knowing if you're infected so that, you know, to stay home, you know, to stay away from other people. And really knowing if that cold or sniffle that you have, is it really just a cold and sniffle as it is allergies? Or is it COVID,” added Dr. Bakhda.

In addition to tests, Monterey County has state-supplied hand sanitizer and N95 masks which are available for eligible groups.

Just under $500,000 in test kits have been ordered. The county continues to seek supplies. Medical providers, organizations, and businesses can submit an EMS request by visiting: https://apps.co.monterey.ca.us/EMSRequest/ Individual members of the public are not able to request supplies.