Coalition of 170 tech CEOs and VCs including Marc Benioff call on California to start free drive-thru COVID-19 testing this weekend
By Dawn Kawamoto – Staff Reporter, San Francisco Business Times
Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff and over 170 tech CEOs and VCs called on Gov. Gavin Newsom Friday to arrange free drive-thru and walk-up COVID-19 testing stations in every California county within the next 48 hours.
The coalition of tech CEOs and VC – which includes Dropbox’s Drew Houston, Slack’s Stewart Butterfield, SoFi’s Anthony Noto, and Segment’s Peter Reinhardt – aims to get the same results as South Korea in containing the fast-moving virus that has spread to nearly 1,300 Americans, and resulted in more than 30 deaths, according to a copy of the letter sent to Newsom, California State Senate Pro Tem President Toni Atkins and California State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.
“Extreme urgency is necessary. With 200 confirmed cases in California today, we are at a critical juncture in the State of California with respect to the spread of the virus,” the letter states.
It notes the group is aiming to have an outcome similar to South Korea and avoid what has happened in Italy.
Italy had 229 confirmed COVID-19 cases two weeks ago and as of March 13 the number has ballooned to over 15,000 confirmed cases, with more than 2,000 new cases confirmed daily. On the other hand, South Korea, which had 200 confirmed cases three weeks ago sits at around half Italy’s number of confirmed cases and fewer than 200 confirmed new cases each daily.
The coalition points out the difference between the two countries was handling of the virus.
In late February, South Korea established drive-through COVID-19 testing for all of its residents and required self-isolation for positive cases, combined with a through review of all the people who came into contact with those who contracted the virus.
Italy did not implement free widespread testing and instead relied on nationwide quarantines.
“Unless California implements South Korea’s strategy of widespread, drive-thru testing in the next 48 hours, we are very rapidly headed towards Italy’s outcome of uncontrolled spread,” the letter stated.
The group acknowledges there are three hurdles to making free testing readily available throughout the state in the next two days. However, it notes that members of the coalition are “willing to commit resources to assist further efforts, if necessary.”
“There are a range of resources that tech CEOs are willing to commit: from offering positive controls to calibrate diagnostics assays, to even offering available space for testing,” said Segment Peter Reinhardt, the coalition’s organizer.
One hurdle is immediate FDA approval of new test kits to expand their availability. A second barrier is ensuring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will follow through on making testing free. The final issue mentioned by the coalition is having the state officials address the test kit shortages and ensuring the CDC follows through on its free testing commitment, all through the lens of providing this testing in a drive-thru or walk-up testing arrangement.
“It is crucial that the citizens of California are protected. Drive-thru testing appears to be the quickest, safest and most effective way to contain COVID-19 and protect our population,” the group states. “Thank you for your urgency and action to date. We stand ready to assist in any way that we can.”
The San Francisco Business Times would like to hear your thoughts, challenges and solutions for dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.
