Line for COVID-19 testing at Cal State East Bay 150+ cars long an hour before opening

The testing site at Cal State East Bay can handle up to 500 tests a day so cars show up early to get tested first.

As COVID-19 case rates spike across the United States, testing at the local level has increased to its max capacity. Bay Area resident Crystal Rosas shared to her twitter followers just how long the line for Covid-19 testing is in Hayward, CA. A video shot starting from halfway up Carlos Bee Blvd. to just before the entrance to the testing site on the Cal State East Bay Campus shows over 150 cars waiting an hour before opening.

Check out the video here.

Is this the only free drive up Covid-19 test in the East bay? I am a Cal State East Bay alum and love that they are offering this and clearly they need HELP! This is 7:30am and the testing starts at 8am. Please let’s research who we vote for this coming November this is awful! pic.twitter.com/ewHQHgJyNR

— Crystal Rosas (@LaCrystalRosas) July 15, 2020

Crystal uploaded the same video on Instagram, highlighting how the testing situation might affect people of color differently.

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The American health care system is a health CRISIS for BIPOC. Poor Black people, indigenous, and people of color shouldn’t have to wait in line for 4 hours to get a free-drive up Covid-19 test. A lot of people in the Bay don’t have a car, insurance, work 2 jobs and don’t have 4 hours to wait in line. I’m lucky Apa is retired and was able to wait for me. I looked into an appointment and the next availability is not until 3 weeks in the East Bay! Please do your research to vote for best candidates who have health care reform for BIPOC on their agenda and who have a PROVEN record of helping our local underserved communities. And feel free to drop any info you have on free Covid tests around the bay.

A post shared by Crystal Rosas (@lacrystalrosas) on Jul 15, 2020 at 8:09pm PDT

am.com/p/CCr_V6zll7o/

The video, uploaded at 7:50 A.M. is a little less than one hour before free Covid-19 testing begins. Roughly counting, there were over 150 cars from the end of the line to where Crystal stops driving.

The city of Hayward in Alameda County has been testing for Covid-19 at Cal State East Bay for over four months now, first starting testing here, relocated from a firestation in South Hayward from early March.

According to KPIX, this Cal State East Bay testing location can handle up to 500 tests per day before they have to turn back cars. On the day KPIX was reporting, on a Monday, testing had to close down before lunch at 11:30 A.M.

Most people waiting in line for a test had to wait over five hours.

In Crystal’s video, with just three people inside each car, before they even opened for testing, they already reached the maximum testing capacity for that day.

Alameda County has been experiencing a continued increase in reported COVID-19 cases in recent weeks, indicating elevated disease transmission.

With local and national news reporting on rates increasing throughout the country and social media amplifying any little news on COVID rate increases, people are flocking to local test sites, like Cal State East Bay, to ease any concerns if they’re infected or not.

If you feel you need to get tested, we can all take a page from Crystal’s book and have a plan to get tested ASAP. When it’s a first-come-first-serve situation, having a plan, like having someone already waiting in line for you, is a smart move.

If you can’t show up in line well before 9.A.M., be I’m afraid a several hours long wait is in your future.

According to CSUEastBay.edu,

The testing site is currently open to the public Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.. However, the testing center may close early if it uses all tests available for that day.