SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) — San Francisco announced it’s rolling out new health and safety requirements for privately-run COVID-19 testing sites that collect and send specimens off-site.
According to San Francisco’s Department of Public Health (SFDPH), there has been an increasing gap in health and safety regulation of sites that only perform the specimen collection portion of COVID-19 testing.
The new health and safety requirements include:
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) for staff,
- Use of proper sanitation measures, and a requirement to have written policies on specimen collection, storage,
- Transport consistent with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or the
manufacturer’s instructions that are available to anyone upon request.
Currently, sites that perform clinical laboratory tests within the City and County are required to be licensed and follow proper protocols.
There are some COVID-19 testing sites that offer on-site testing for rapid molecular or antigen tests.
Some sites collect specimens for molecular testing, which are then submitted to an off-site laboratory for clinical testing — while some sites are doing both.
According to SFDPH, operators of sites that do not actually perform clinical laboratory tests for SARS-CoV-2 on the premises are operating as “specimen collection sites.”
“It is critically important that collection and testing at specimen collection sites observe best health and safety practices for handling and testing infectious disease specimens.,” SFDPH said in a press release.
“Testing sites that perform clinical laboratory tests on the premises are licensed and regulated by the United States Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH),” SFDPH added.
“But sites that operate solely as specimen collection sites are not subject to CMS or CDPH regulation or oversight.”
SFDPH said the order will remain in effect until it’s rescinded or modified.
To learn more about the new requirements, click here.
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