Merced County still virus free -- it's a miracle!

 

To: Badlands

From: Geezers Anonymous of Merced County/Viejitos anonimos del Condado de Merced

Although every county that touches on Merced County has reported confirmed cases of COVID-19, miraculously, Merced County has escaped. At least it not reported any confirmed cases. And what does "confirmation" mean? How long does it take to get confirmation in Merced County? We count the days as Mercy Hospital constructs yellow tents to handle the overflow of unreported cases of COVID-19.

Who do you have to know or be to get a COVID-19 test in Merced County?

UPDATE: Miracle explained?

California has more than 8,000 coronavirus tests, but county public health labs can’t use all of them because many test kits lack necessary chemical components, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Thursday.

That discrepancy has forced some county public health labs, including Sacramento’s, to rely on private labs to work down a backlog of tests.

Newsom at press conferences this week twice likened the coronavirus test kits the state received from the federal government to “printers without ink,” meaning the kits can’t work as designed without essential materials.

Some of the kits the state received from the federal government lack chemical reagents, which are needed to actually run tests for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 disease, Newsom said. – Sacramento Bee, March 12, 2020. https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article241...