Nursing home coronavirus testing remains scattershot, despite being a Newsom priority

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Like many Californians, Dr. Peter Beilenson has watched in anguish as the coronavirus has devastated elder care homes. As of last week, COVID-19 had killed about 2,000 residents and more than 60 employees of these facilities, accounting for more than half of California's mortality from the pandemic.

But Beilenson, Sacramento County's health director, also knows that virus testing in these vulnerable places can prevent outbreaks. It may have stopped his mother from sparking one.

His mother, Dolores Beilenson, 86, became fatigued and developed a slight fever in March, and he insisted she have a test though her symptoms were too mild to cause alarm. When it came back positive, he pushed for more testing of others, ultimately revealing 24 patients and 25 staff with the virus, including some who were mostly without the telltale signs.

The quick and universal testing, said Peter Beilenson, proves "you can actually bring an outbreak rapidly under control."

The problem