Once a week, Lori Janich drives down the street from her office and partakes in an ongoing success story. Phone in hand to confirm her appointment, she strolls into the massive Activities and Recreation Center on the University of California, Davis campus, reaches a COVID-19 testing station, swirls water in her mouth, spits into a tube, and leaves. Within a day, she receives her test result.
Janich doesn’t live in Davis, but because her job as a licensed dental hygienist brings her there, everything about the COVID-19 testing process is free for her. The same goes for all UC Davis students, faculty members and staffers; Davis city residents; local workers; and visitors — almost anyone whose life brings them into town. Davis has a population of about 70,000, with an additional 15,000 people living on campus, yet through a joint city-university effort, it has administered more than 740,000 tests.
“It’s always worked out for me,” Janich said. “I strongly recommend it to anyone qualified to use it.”
