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Operation Covid-19 taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot, testing for the coronavirus on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Operation Covid-19 taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot, testing for the coronavirus on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Dr. Wafaa Alrashid uses a swab to test a person for the coronavirus during Operation Covid 19, taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot, testing for the corona virus on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Operation Covid-19 taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot testing for the corona virus on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Dr. Wafaa Alrashid uses a swab to test a person for the coronavirus during Operation Covid-19, taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Operation Covid-19 taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot testing for the coronavirus on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Operation Covid-19 taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot testing for the coronavirus on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Dr. Wafaa Alrashid uses a swab to test a person for the coronavirus during Operation Covid-19, taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Dr. Wafaa Alrashid uses a swab to test a person for the coronavirus during Operation Covid-19, taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Operation Covid-19 taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot testing for the coronavirus on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Operation Covid 19 taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot testing for the coronavirus on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Dr. Glenn Littenberg, left, over-sees and documents Operation Covid-19, taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot, testing for the coronavirus, on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Dr. Wafaa Alrashid sanitizes her hands during Operation Covid-19 taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot testing for the coronavirus on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Dr. Wafaa Alrashid uses a swab to test a person for the coronavirus during Operation Covid-19 taking place at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot on Friday, March 27, 2020.
Team Operation Covid-19 pose for a picture at the Pasadena Medical Plaza parking lot on Friday, March 27, 2020.
As the coronavirus continues to spread, COVID-19 testing in Pasadena is underway. Friday a local doctor’s group set up a drive-through testing operation while Carbon Health, a technology-enabled healthcare provider with Pasadena and Echo Park-based clinics, is offering onsite COVID-19 testing.
The healthcare provider recently launched a Coronavirus Assessment Tool and if a patient who takes the assessment is identified as needing additional screening, a doctor from Carbon Health will reach out to them to coordinate further assessment and COVID-19 testing. Patients can also walk into the clinics if they’re experiencing symptoms, and will be able to get tested for COVID-19 if approved by a physician, Carbon Health officials said.
The local Carbon Health clinic, located at 600 block East Colorado Boulevard, has been providing testing since March 5.
Patients begin the process on the carbon health website via an assessment tool.
So far at least one patient has tested positive for the virus, according to Dr. Caesar Djavaherian.
“The way that we approached that, those positive results is we reach out to them with a video visit our Carbon Health offers video care providers. If they don’t have our app downloaded to do that, we’ll reach out to them with a telephone call. And daily we check in with our patients preferably through our app, but also we can do it through the phone to make sure that their symptoms aren’t advancing.”
The group has been working on its COVID-19 response since mid-February.
The lack of tests have placed cities in the U.S. far behind in containing the spread of the virus. Local hospitals require residents to first go their doctors before being tested.
If the patient seems like they are high risk or have quite a bit of the symptoms, Carbon Health doctors will reach out to them and assess them via video conference.
Carbon Health is not the only local group providing testing.
On Friday, one local doctors’ group conducted drive-thru Covid-19 testing for their patients in a parking lot near Huntington Hospital on Friday.
Dr. Sylvia Preciado and Dr. Wafaa Al Rashid conducted the private event for their patients.
As part of the event, the doctors first screened patients’ symptoms online.
“One of the reasons these doctors are doing this in this way is they keep the patients out of their offices as well,” said Dr. Arvid Underman, who serves as a consultant on the testing. “They do the intake information such as travel, context, fever and so forth. All the CDC requirements, they do that do that over on something like Zoom or whatever, a telemedicine type of thing they have set up.”
Locally, Pasadena Public Health Dept. said 10 people have tested positive for the virus.
On Sunday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed six new deaths and 344 new cases of infection.
All of the fatalities occurred in people 60 and older. Over the last 48 hours, there have been 601 new cases.
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