Results from first week of COVID-19 testing by City of Hayward

HAYWARD, Calif., April 1, 2020—Of 1254 people who were among the first to be tested at the City of Hayward’s COVID-19 Testing Center, 130 were positive for the new coronavirus infection, laboratory results show.

In all, a total of 1324 people were tested during the first seven days of operation of the Testing Center, which is a partnership of the Hayward Fire Department and Avellino Lab of Menlo Park.

As test samples are analyzed, results are reported to the individual tested and/or their primary care physician as well as to local public health authorities in the tested person’s county of residence. These results are added to counties’ daily positive case updates as the results are confirmed and shared through the counties’ appropriate reporting channels to the state and then to the federal Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Once the information is shared with the person’s local public health department, authorities will provide those who test positive with appropriate isolation instructions, and on steps to control further transmissions of the virus.

The Testing Center, at Hayward Fire Station #7, 28270 Huntwood Avenue, is free and open to members of the general public regardless of where they live or immigration status.  No referral from a medical doctor is required but individuals must be symptomatic for COVID-19 and have a fever over 100 degrees to be tested.  Qualifying symptoms include cough and shortness of breath.

The Center is scheduled to operate from 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays or until the number of tests available for the day is exhausted.  The Center is closed on Mondays.

First-responders and health-care workers can make advance appointments to be tested by calling the City’s COVID-19 hotline at (510) 583-4949.

The testing is being performed by Hayward Fire Department firefighter-paramedics and health clinicians.  In cooperation with the Alameda County Public Health Department, testing teams also are being deployed from time-to-time to provide testing to vulnerable population groups.

The Fire Department and Avellino Lab are working with other cities and county public health officials to expand testing and open new centers elsewhere in Alameda County and the wider Bay Area.

The seven Bay Area health officers (for the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Santa Clara, San Francisco, San Mateo and the City of Berkeley) have determined that more and stricter social distancing is needed to slow the rate of spread, prevent deaths, and stop the health care system from becoming overwhelmed, and are extending the previous stay-at-home order through May 3 in order to preserve critical hospital capacity across the region.

For more information about COVID-19 and how Hayward is responding to the pandemic, go online to the City’s COVID-19 Updates webpage.