SANTA MONICA—On Thursday, May 7, Los Angeles County established a free walk-up COVID-19 testing site at Santa Monica College (SMC).

The site is located at SMC’s “Airport” satellite campus, at 2800 Airport Avenue. This testing area comes with 7 others in LA County, following California Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent announcement to add over 80 testing sites in the state, primarily in underserved communities. All 8 LA County sites have been created in partnership with OptumServe, the federal health services arm of Optum, a health services company.

“We’re so pleased to partner with the state and OptumServe to help meet County and State goals for testing,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, Director of Health Services for LA County.  “Our focus has been on expanding testing capacity among vulnerable populations and in underserved, at-risk, and low-income communities.  These new State-supported sites are an important part of the overall plan to expand testing access in areas that most need it.”

The other 7 sites are located at: 

  • ChapCare, 1595 N. Lake Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91104
  • West Jordan High School, (Jordan Plus High School) 171 W. Bort St. Long Beach, 90805
  • CSULA, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032 (LA BioSpace Building, 1900 block of Paseo Rancho Castilla, across the street from Public Safety Building)
  • Hawthorne Memorial Center – Betty Ainsworth Sports Center, 3851 W El Segundo Blvd, Hawthorne, CA 90250
  • ChapCare, 10408 Vacco Street, Suite A South El Monte CA 91733
  • Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, 21840 Normandie Ave, Torrance, CA 90502
  • County of LA Crenshaw Area Office, 3606 West Exposition Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90016.

Note that the last 3 locations are scheduled to open on Monday, May 11.

COVID-19 testing is conducted by appointment only; register for free at lhi.care/covidtesting. A statement by LA County mentions that priority is given to anyone exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, as well as asymptomatic people who are over 65 years old, have chronic medical conditions, and/or are essential workers.

“As the County begins a slow and measured process of re-opening businesses and other establishments, testing will be a critical component for measuring the results, so I am very glad that this new site has opened at Santa Monica College so that people can conveniently monitor whether they have the virus, and be better able to protect their own health and the health of those they love,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.   

View the official announcement by the County of Los Angeles about the 8 new COVID-19 testing sites here. General information about testing and testing sites in the county can be found here.

“Optum is honored to assist California in expanding COVID-19 testing for their residents,” said OptumServe CEO Patty Horoho. “We will bring the full commitment and capabilities of UnitedHealth Group to serving Californians, including extensive experience conducting large community health events.”