Meanwhile, drive through testing is already available in at least six other states, as well as in two Bay Area cities -- San Francisco (at a Kaiser-Permanente location) and Palo Alto (at a separately run hospital) -- offered on by private industry healthcare providers on terms described in news stories here and here.

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As previously reported by LBREPORT.com (here, initial report and here with detailed transcript), on March 13 President Donald Trump told a Rose Garden press conference that a new drive-through testing procedure will be rolled out nationally to enable wirespread testing and faster results. Governor Newsom made no explicit mention of this in his March 15 press conference.

So what about Long Beach? LBREPORT.com is unaware of any private sector plans to offer drive-thru testing in Long Beach or in the vicinity.

As reported earlier today (March 15) by LBREPORT.com, Jennifer Rice Epstein in the City of LB's Joint Information Center told us:

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The City of Long Beach has not been required by the State or Federal government to conduct drive-through testing here. In the future, we may work with local healthcare providers to offer drive-through testing, but we are not planning to offer it to the public at this time.

As you know, local labs now also have the ability to test, so people can be referred from their healthcare provider to the testing facility if they meet the criteria for COVID-19 screening.

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LBREPORT.com is continuing to follow this story. Further to follow as we learn it.

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