SAN FRANCISCO—On January 11, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu sent a letter to Community Wellness America, Inc., a potentially unlicensed COVID testing operator, demanding that the company produce the appropriate licenses in order to continue providing COVID tests in San Francisco. In collaboration with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (DPH), the City Attorney’s Office initiated an investigation into rogue COVID testing operators in the City.
“During this Omicron surge, ensuring the integrity of our COVID testing operations is of the utmost importance,” said City Attorney David Chiu. “Our testing capacity is stretched to the maximum right now, and there is understandable anxiety about finding a test. It is unconscionable that rogue actors would exploit that situation and set up unlicensed testing facilities to turn a quick profit. By and large, testing operators in San Francisco are licensed and lawful, but we will use all legal tools available to weed out the few bad actors who may not be operating in compliance with the law.”
As early as January 5, reports started of individuals operating on behalf of Community Wellness America, Inc. offering COVID tests on public property near Golden Gate Park and Dolores Park, among other regions. When asked, the pop-up testing operations were unable to produce valid, up-to-date Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) licenses.
All testing operators must have a valid CLIA license issued by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). To obtain a CLIA license, an operator must demonstrate it uses only FDA-approved COVID tests.
Private testing operators do not need to obtain a license from the San Francisco Department of Public Health in order to perform COVID tests in San Francisco. If an operator intends to conduct testing on city property or block a public right-of-way, the operator must have a permit issued by the San Francisco Department of Public Works. The letter concerning Community Wellness America, Inc. can be found here.
Members of the public who need a COVID test are asked to first contact their healthcare provider for a test and explore DPH-affiliated testing site options. If a member of the public suspects a testing facility to be operating without the proper authorization, they should notify city officials by submitting a tip to 311.
Consumers should be wary of any testing operator that asks for sensitive personal information like social security numbers or immigration status. If a member of the public suspects a testing facility to be operating without the proper authorization, they should notify city officials by submitting a tip to 311.
On Thursday, January 20, City Attorney Chui announced he issued two subpoenas as a part of an investigation into rogue COVID testing operators in San Francisco for Community Wellness America, Inc. and Crestview Clinical Laboratory, LLC. Earlier this month, individuals representing Community Wellness America, Inc. were reported to be offering COVID tests on public property in San Francisco. It is unclear whether the individuals staffing Community Wellness America’s pop-up testing operations have the adequate training to perform these tests and what they are doing with the information and samples they are collecting.
“Protecting the integrity of our COVID testing operations is crucial as we grapple with a surge in COVID cases,” said City Attorney David Chiu. “We cannot allow rogue actors to exploit this Omicron surge for profit. We will get to the bottom of this and ensure any bad actors are held accountable.”
