BCPH BELIEVES RESIDENTS ARE REFUSING TO GET COVID-19 TESTED IN FEAR OF RESTRICTIONS
CHICO, Calif. - Butte County Public Health (BCPH) said that people are refusing to get tested if they are experiencing symptoms due to not wanting the county to go back to a more restrictive tier.
"I think that is insane," said Chico resident, Paul Beltz. "I think that it is a height of irresponsibility. I think it is ignorant. I think it is uneducated and I think it is self-centered, to be blunt."
On Thursday, Butte County Public Health Department said that some people are refusing to get tested even if they are experiencing symptoms.
People in Chico are very concerned about how this could impact them, especially those who could bring the virus home to their family members at high risk.
"I work for elderly people and I take care of my mom right now and these people are in the bracket for risk and yea that sounds dangerous," said Chico resident, Theo Westbrook.
"They know what they are doing and they should be responsible for their own actions," said Chico resident, Krystal Alvarez. "Like if you know you have it just wait the two weeks to know when you are feeling better. A majority of us are doing it safely so I mean, take care of your own actions."
Butte County Health Departments' concern is that people with symptoms won't come to testing sites and said that this doesn't help the accuracy of the case numbers.
"Not only does the state consider our positivity rates, but they also consider the total tests that we perform throughout the county," said Director for Butte County Public Health, Danette York. "Refusing a test could actually hurt our rates using that statistic when they see we are not testing enough in the county."
York added that if they don’t know that someone has the virus, then they can’t stop the virus.
Testing location sites in Chico can be located at the CVS on Esplanade and Forest, Ampla Health, and at the old Rabo Bank on Mangrove.
https://www.actionnewsnow.com/content/news/Butte-County-Public-Health-released-new-information-today-about-truth-and-testing–572761121.html