MALIBU—The city of Malibu, Malibu Medical Group and Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) will continue conducting free drive-through testing for all residents of the greater Malibu area, including those residing in Topanga and Pacific Palisades.
While testing was previously focused on residents expressing symptoms, the new service has been expanded to conduct testing for all community members. This is because nearly 3,000 tests from Malibu City Hall in the last 3 weeks have been asymptomatic, and it has been deemed essential for symptomless individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 to self-isolate to contain the spread of the virus.
Testing will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, April 30 and Friday, May 1 at the upper parking lot of Malibu City Hall. Participants are requested to wait in line by 3:00 p.m., and to pre-register on the Malibu Medical Group website. Anyone unable to pre-register online will be registered on-site by the staff on duty.
All testing is free and there are no out-of-pocket expenses. For those with health insurance coverage, the insurance company will bear the testing costs. Those with no symptoms are asked to make a donation of at least $60 to www.coreresponse.org – this will be used to fund test kits for the people that need them most.
Tests will be conducted using FDA-approved nasal swabs. People who test positive will be called by Malibu Medical Group within 3-5 days. Negative results will be released onto the Malibu Medical Group patient portal.
Mayor Karen Farrer expressed her pride at the dedication of the staff and volunteers involved and noted that “widespread testing is one of the key benchmarks that we need to achieve to battle the coronavirus and look forward to easing the stay at home orders.”
As of Wednesday, April 29 there is a total of 30 confirmed cases in the city of Malibu.
