County health officials said Thursday a private, drive-thru COVID-19 testing site they ordered to close in North County did not have proper certifications.
County officials moved Wednesday to shut down the COVID Clinic operating in a parking lot at MiraCosta College. The college is not affiliated with the COVID Clinic; it just provided space in its parking lot for the drive-thru testing.
The company had an agreement to use the campus as a testing site for just a week, with terms expiring Friday. Just days into testing, county health officials ordered the site to shut down, saying it failed to provide necessary state certifications. County officials also said operators would not provide them with testing results, a violation of state regulations and county health orders. On Thursday officials announced additional findings.
“We determined that they do not have a CLIA (Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments) certificate to be able to do the testing they were performing," Dr. Eric McDonald, San Diego County's medical director of epidemiology and immunizations services said. "Also, they don’t have the certification to be able to send specimens to a laboratory out of state."
McDonald said the tests were being sent to a lab in Texas.
MiraCosta college officials said as of Thursday morning the testing operation had been stopped. The COVID Clinic posted on its Facebook page yesterday saying its San Diego test location is closed while it goes through “red tape” required by San Diego county.
"This is not red tape," McDonald said. "This is actually verification of standards and quality. So we are working with them to see if we can refocus their effort."
The COVID Clinic was charging $125 for COVID-19 tests and $75 for antibody tests, with results promised within days. There are other similar drive-thru testing options in San Diego. McDonald offered some advice for consumers on evaluating those options.
"I would do a little bit of buyer-beware," McDonald said. "If it’s a pop-up [testing site] with an organization that’s not affiliated with one of our well-established health care agencies — that would be my first clue," he said.
The COVID Clinic and its Orange County-based owner, Dr. Matthew Abinante, did not respond to requests for comment.
