Hawaii County plans to deploy three mobile testing vans early in December. Mayor Harry Kim said the Mobile Testing Units were donated by Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, Inc. Benioff has had a home on the Big Island for years.
In preparation for the deployment of the vans, Hawai‘i County and its private partner Premier Medical Group conducted a COVID-19 testing session at the County Building on Wednesday.
When the Mobile Unit becomes fully deployed with its three vans early next month, testing teams will be able to rapidly go into vulnerable communities or remote populations. The County will continue providing COVID-19 drive-through testing at sites around the island, at least for the time being.
To provide even faster results of COVID-19 tests, Clinical Labs is now able to process tests on-island, thanks to a newly-arrived Panther Analyzer system that can process up to 1,000 tests in a day, with next-day results.
The Mobile Unit tested dozens of County workers at 25 Aupuni Street during a two-hour session today, including Mayor Harry Kim (attached photo).
“This Mobile Testing is an expansion of the County’s testing program, because it adds another resource to the community,” Mayor Kim said. “The Mobile Testing enables us to expand testing as needed, and gives us great flexibility in doing it.”
The County conducts a comprehensive testing program comprised of:
- District testing – Large scale drive-through testing, open to the public on a scheduled basis.
- Targeted testing – Testing in an area of concern, and open to the public
- Spot testing – Testing in an area identified as of specific concern. This testing focuses on the population in the area of concern, and is not open to the public.
Photos courtesy Hawaii County Mayor’s office:
Mayor Kim walking to the COVID-19 test
Harry Kim getting instructions about testing
The test!
