California still way behind in coronavirus testing despite recent advances
LOS ANGELES - State health officials have ramped up coronavirus testing in recent days, but California still lags behind most other states, leaving potentially thousands of undiagnosed patients to unknowingly spread the infections.
As of Tuesday, California said it had results for 143,172 tests - or 362 per 100,000 people. That's a sharp increase from two weeks ago when just 39 of every 100,000 residents had been tested.
Yet for all its deep sources of innovation, the state is behind the national average of 596 tests per 100,000, according to the COVID Tracking Project. In New York, which has far more people hospitalized with severe symptoms, testing has reached 1,748 of every 100,000.
Some California patients continue to wait many days for results. And for those without symptoms such as a fever, it continues to be extremely difficult to get a test.
The slow testing has been the
