Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Wednesday that all county residents can now get free coronavirus testing at city-run sites.
Until now, only residents with symptoms as well as essential workers and those in institutional settings like nursing homes could be tested.
Officials say expanded testing is essential to getting a better sense of how many people have the virus — data that could be used to ease stay-at-home rules.
Under the new guidelines, priority for the same- or next-day testing will still be given to people with symptoms, such as a fever, cough and shortness of breath.
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Drive-through COVID-19 testing in Boyle Heights. Experts say widespread testing is crucial for states to be able to safely reopen their economies. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Testing in Boyle Heights. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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A testing sample is sealed. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Putting on personal protective equipment before testing. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Testing in Boyle Heights. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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A patient is screened before testing. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Information is collected from a patient. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Boyle Heights COVID-19 testing. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
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Juan Infante, a certified medical assistant, takes the temperature of a patient before she gets tested. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Carson City Mayor Albert Robles does self-testing at a new drive-up testing site for COVID-19 outside of a community center in Carson. Free COVID-19 testing is available to all city residents. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Carson residents Kaeli Burks, 3, left, and her cousin Bailey Watson, 5, look out the window of their car after their mothers helped them with self-testing at a drive-up testing site for COVID-19 in Carson. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A Carson resident passes a sealed self-test to a health official at a drive-up testing site. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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Carson resident Melvin Smith, 64, does self-testing. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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A person drops a specimen at a COVID-19 mobile testing site in Bell. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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A person swabs their mouth at a COVID-19 mobile testing site in Bell. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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A man talks with a healthcare worker outside Kedren Community Health Center in South LA, where they are offering walk-up coronavirus testing along with other medical services. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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A specimen is turned in at the new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
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A portrait and quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. overlooks a new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
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Julie Montez, right, sits in her car as a nurse administers a coronavirus test at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Nurses pose for a fun photo between breaks at a drive-through public testing for coronavirus at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Healthcare workers tend to a driver in line at a drive-through Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing site at the Westminster Mall in Westminster. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Healthcare workers tend to a driver in line at a drive-through Coronavirus testing site at the Westminster Mall in Westminster. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Gessie Lurlay is working as a coronavirus screener at the Camarena Health Center in Madera. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times)
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Francis Gon-Gibbs, of LA County Fire Department Lifeguard Division, stands at the entrance of a new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
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A man drops off his self-administered COVID-19 test in a blue bin at a drive-up test site at the Veterans Administration Parking Lot 15 outside of Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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Workers direct drivers at a drive-up test site for COVID-19 at the Veterans Administration Parking Lot 15 outside of Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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A man misses the blue bin while dropping off his self-administered COVID-19 test at a drive-up test site at the Veterans Administration Parking Lot 15 outside of Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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Workers help conduct drive-thru coronavirus testing at Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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A sign directs people to drive-thru coronavirus testing at Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
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Cassidy Roosen, with Beach Cities Health District, holds up a sign that says, “We’re All In This Together,” while waiting to direct cars at a drive-through, appointment-only coronavirus testing location, at the South Bay Galleria, in Redondo Beach. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)
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A woman shows her notice from her doctor that allows her to obtain a test for COVID-19 at a new drive-up testing site in a parking lot at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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Coronavirus CO drive-thru sample collection takes place at the county fairgrounds in Victorville. (Irfan Khan/Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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San Bernardino County health care worker takes a sample at a coronavirus drive-thru sample collection that took place at the county fairgrounds in Victorville. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
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Motorists, line up on Stadium Way, near Dodger Stadium, waiting to enter a parking lot and be tested for the coronavirus. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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Members of the Los Angeles Fire Dept. wear protective gear while handing out kits to people to swab the inside of their mouths to test for the coronavirus, inside a parking lot on Stadium Way, near Dodger Stadium. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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Riverside County medical personnel screen a car of load of four people at a coronavirus drive-though testing facility for Coachella Valley residents in the parking lot of the Southwest in Indian Wells. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
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Aerial views cars lined up for drive-through coronavirus testing inside a parking lot on Stadium Way near Dodger Stadium. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Testing will also be prioritized for certain critical frontline workers who interact with the public.
Testing is by appointment only and is being provided by the city in partnership with Los Angeles County and Community Organized Relief Effort. As of April 21, there were 35 testing sites across the county.
Los Angeles County health officials on Wednesday announced the largest influx of new coronavirus cases reported in a single day since the outbreak began, pushing the county’s total number of infections past 22,400.
Public Health Department Director Barbara Ferrer announced 1,541 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, nearly 1,000 more than what was reported the previous day. The large increase is mostly the result of a boost in testing as well as a lag in weekend reporting, Ferrer said.
Despite the increase in confirmed cases and new deaths, Ferrer said, the county’s rate of hospitalizations and the percentage of people testing positive for the virus have remained fairly stable.
Health officials also noted that there has been increased testing at prisons throughout the county, which has also led to an increase in the number of confirmed cases.
