Los Angeles Now Offering Free Testing to All County Residents

[Updated] Any resident of Los Angeles County can now receive free Coronavirus testing.

LA’s free testing does not apply to the county testing being done at the Rose Bowl.

In order to be tested residents can sign up at coronavirus.LAcity.org to schedule a free test, provided they have a way to prove they live in the area.

The expansion in testing could be a major milestone. Health officials across the country say without widespread testing they cannot track the spread of the disease.

That information could be used to determine when it is safe to lift the Safer at Home order.

Residents with symptoms of Coronavirus can get same-day or next-day appointments, but they must bring identification.

The city has 34 testing sites with the capacity to test 18,000 people per day, far more tests than are currently being conducted in the region, the mayor explained. Los Angeles has tested over 140,000 people in April, according to the mayor, which is still a small fraction of the city’s population. Garcetti pointed out that while L.A. accounts for roughly 3 percent of the country’s population, it has about 9 percent of America’s testing capacity for Coronbavirus at the moment and that testing capacity isn’t being used.

Los Angeles County currently has identified 22,485 COVID-19 cases, and 1,056 deaths.

Testing centers have been set up across the city but until now they were reserved for those with symptoms and frontline employees like health care and grocery store workers.

The county established a Safer at Home order on March 19. The order has helped control the spread of the virus, but last week the death toll doubled. To make matters worse, the beaches were crowded last week as people decided to get out and enjoy the weather.

On Thursday Gov. Gavin Newsom shut down the state’s beaches.