May 1, 2020--This week, Mendocino County and Round Valley Indian Health Center collaborated in a massive testing effort to identify and contain the potential COVID-19 outbreak in Covelo, after six positive cases turned up on April 23 and 24. On Monday, they conducted 160 tests, with one positive result, and on Wednesday they tested 180 residents in the community of Round Valley. Meanwhile the State of California provided 2,000 more test kits, and County Public Health prepared to move forward with 200 tests a day in for 10 days, in an attempt to screen everyone who lives in Covelo and may have been exposed to the coronavirus. Unfortunately, testing capacity in the region is lagging, and has created a bottleneck, with results still pending in 211 of the samples submitted.
CEO Carmel Angelo and Round Valley Indian Tribes President James Russ spend the hour giving a detailed update about the mass testing efforts in Round Valley, the unprecedented scale of collaboration between the County, Tribal Health Center, State and Federal governements, and the challenges that lie ahead.