Riverside County says push for more COVID-19 testing is working

Is the push for more people to get tested working? News Channel 3’s Caitlin Thropay was out at the Indio fairgrounds and spoke with Riverside County Public Health to find out if it’s proving to be successful.

“We are urging residents to get tested,” public information officer with Riverside County Department of Public Health Jose Arballo told News Channel 3 on Tuesday.

Arballo said people with and without symptoms still need to get tested for the coronavirus.

“The testing is two-fold," he said. "It lets us know the spread of the virus in the community so we can target our responses as a public health agency and it also helps reduce our case count,” Arballo added.

Though, he said the push for more people to get tested is working.

“Several weeks back we were at 135 per 100,000 tested," Arballo said. "Right now we’re at over 220 per 100,000 and that’s really great," he said. "Riverside County over the last several weeks has really stepped up to come in and get tested and it’s helping us move forward,” he shared.

Indio's mayor and city councilmembers got tested to help continue that push for testing. Mayor Glenn Miller thinks these extra efforts are helping.

“I think it is. I think people are all coronavirused out but when they realize it’s going to help us get our small businesses back open and they’re looking at what the county and the cities are trying to do to get them opened safely and efficiently and I think people are realizing let’s do this for our community,” Miller said.

Arballo added that overall there has been an increase in testing in all age groups but he says the county is focusing on the younger community.

“The rate of cases per younger people is growing so we’re trying to get more people tested to get a better idea of how widespread the virus is in that younger community,” Arballo said.

However, there’s still work to be done and testing alone is not the only thing preventing us from propelling forward.

“We’ve said this from the very beginning; wear your mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands frequently and again stay away from large gatherings,” Arballo said.

To get tested for the coronavirus click here: https://gettested.ruhealth.org/