Faced with mammoth demand and a finite capacity to deal with it, novel coronavirus testing sites have started to appear, scattered around Los Angeles County.

But with long lines and a tapped-out appointment system to contend with, officials cautioned Wednesday, March 25 that capacity in the county is not where it should be.

Such testing has been slow to kick into gear in L.A. and its environs, where a shortage of test kits and long wait times to get results have hampered efforts to get a more robust account of how many people are actually infected here.

A delayed launch and bureaucratic glitches early on by the federal government have also slowed the process of getting tests distributed, officials said.

The test is vital in containing the virus, because officials can then know who to quarantine. County Health Director Barbara Ferrer has cautioned the community on an almost daily basis that until the testing process is in full bloom, the daily count of cases will not be an accurate assessment of the number of people with the ailment here — and that a big jump in the numbers is on the horizon.

Orange County, and to an extent, Riverside County have seen drive-through centers established and become operational. San Bernardino County expects pilot testing to begin Friday.

In LA this week, though, the centers were just coming on line. Tests are still available by advance screening only — through a new L.A. city web portal designed to schedule appointments for people eligible for the tests and from referrals by doctors: Criteria include symptoms such as shortness of breath, coughing and exposure to people with the virus — a respiratory illness that experts say is more lethal and contagious than the regular flu.

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According to county emergency operations officials, the new L.A. city sites include:

Hotchkins Memorial Training Center (a fire training center)

Hansen Dam (near the Aquatic Center)

Crenshaw Christian Center

and the West LA Veteran’s Administration Lot 15.

At this time, no one can simply walk up for a test. These centers are open only to people who have been screened and made appointments through the city’s online portal.

Official guidance has been that because of a still finite number of tests, the testing itself has been prioritized to those most vulnerable: Sick people with coronavirus symptoms, first-responders and caregivers.

By noon on Wednesday, a line of cars — about 100 yards long with eagerly awaiting passengers inside — lined Stadium Way near Dodgers Stadium, near the Hotchkins training center.

That line had been growing since at least 9:30 in the morning, as first-responders were let in to the site ahead of civilians, observers said. By around 12:30 p.m., the line stared moving.

Mike DeLeon and his wife, Diane, of Chino, made an appointment through the city’s website on Tuesday. Both sick for about two weeks, they arrived for a 10 a.m. appointment at the L.A. site but both were still waiting in their sedan by noon

It was not an easy morning. Diane suffered with nausea and a sharp cough, as well as bouts of shortness of breath and chills. Mike, sitting in his car talking to a reporter via cellphone, grew exasperated.

“We both are sick right now,” Mike DeLeon said, frustrated that there wasn’t some advance warning about the delay. “We’re both here to be tested. She’s worse than I am. We didn’t expect this,” he said of the wait.

“I’m losing faith. I’m getting ready just to leave. This is ridiculous,” he said.

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

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One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)



One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)



One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)

One of several Los Angeles City COVID-19 drive-through test sights near Dodger Stadium Wednesday, March 25,2020. (Photo by Gene Blevins/Contributing photographer)



Life has changed for the couple. They sleep in different bedrooms. They’ve sought medical help, but their conditions grew worse, they said. Their private doctors won’t — or can’t — perform COVID-19 tests on them, they said.

But a bit after noon, the line started to move.

The cars drove up to a first stop, where an attendant — decked out in heavy personal-protective gear — took their information.

Then, another worker — also in protective equipment — appeared to administer a swab test. Others handed the test to passenger(s), who drove slowly to another stop some yards away, to administer the swab on themselves, and then dropped off the test to workers as they exited.

Officials confirmed that the L.A. city site to schedule testing appointments maxed out on Wednesday, with the waiting list full, too.

So far, more than 6,300 people have been tested in L.A. County, with 11% coming back positive, Ferrer, the county’s top public health official, said on Wednesday.

“Increasing our capacity means that we need to have enough testing available,” she said. “We need to be able to get those results in a timely way. And we still remain limited in both ways.

“We don’t have all the tests we wish we had,” she added. She has also noted that results can often take some time come back — up to three to four days.

Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of L.A County’s Health Services Department, said four patients at the L.A. County Department of Health hospitals have tested positive for COVID-19 and 71 persons were awaiting test results.

The new sites in L.A. foreshadow a larger ramping up in the city and throughout Southern California, where officials have been working to procure more tests from local and international biotech firms.

Twenty thousand more tests are coming to first responders and others on the frontline by the end of the week, officials say. They would be used in the field, through the use of a swab that can get much quicker results.

Those tests were procured through an agreement with South Korean firm Seegene, in conjunction with L.A. City Councilman David Ryu’s office and Supervisors Kathryn Barger, Hilda Solis and City Councilwoman Nury Martinez.

In her daily briefing on Wednesday, Ferrer said there were 138 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases in Los Angeles county to 799.

Statewide, there are 2,535 cases, with 53 deaths (one non-California resident), according to the California Department of Public Health.

Ferrer has repeatedly stressed that the number of cases in the county is likely to continue rising due to the increasing availability of testing. But she said people who are tested should assume they are positive and immediately isolate themselves and notify their close contacts so those people can also go into quarantine.

The testing sites in L.A. and elsewhere are not to be confused with quarantine centers.

County officials have been working to establish quarantine/isolation areas for people who either have the virus, have been exposed to it or are showing symptoms. Dockweiler State Beach, where RVs have been parked to provide isolation space, near El Segundo, was already established as such a site.

County Supervisor Hilda Solis announced last week that the Sheraton Fairplex hotel in Pomona will become a quarantine/isolation facility this week. She said the county has negotiated a lease for the hotel’s 244 rooms that will continue through May 31, with an option to extend through June.

The rooms will be provided on a first-come, first-served basis, with one person housed per room. Solis said people in the hotel will receive services such as food, medical care and laundry.

The Pomona Fairplex is also opening a child-care center for the children of first-responders, and a drive-through food pantry will begin operating at the facility on April 1. And the shuttered St. Vincent Medical Center in the Westlake district will also be used for patients with the virus.

Photographer Gene Blevins, reporter David Rosenfeld and City News Service contributed to this story.