It’s not all fun and games in Crescent City’s Beachfront Park: A new mobile unit is making important strides in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.Last week, a new testing center, run through a state contract with OptumServe, launched in Del Norte County. The bus-turned-test-center is scheduled to make stops in Crescent City, Klamath and Smith River every week.The test center replaces the drive-through location at the information center, and can process up to 84 tests per day with a two- to five-day turnaround time for test results, according to Jason Grow, the event onsite coordinator for the mobile unit, which is being run by OptumServe subsidiary LHI.#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');Individuals older than one year hoping to get tested can register for a test online at lhi.care/covidtesting or by calling (888) 634-1123 — and walk ups are accepted on site. The tests are free with or without insurance.Once there, those getting tested check in at a tent and receive an individually packaged virus test. After a short walk to the bus, patients use the nasal swab to take the test.“It’s still self-administered, unless the person is unable or unwilling to do so,” Grow said.Fortunately, the test is a little different than previous tests, since patients only have to get the swab into their nostril — not all the way into the back of the throat like other tests.“So it’s a lot less intimidating,” said Alisa Occhionero, an emergency medical technician who’s been administering tests in the county since December.Once the swab is done, patients carefully return it to an individual vial, seal it back up and pass it through a bus window to another staff member inside, who returns the sample to a double-sealed cooler bound for the lab.In all, the process takes just a handful of minutes and is 98% effective, according to Occhionero.The bus is in Beachfront Park near the KidTown parking lot on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; at Smith River Fire on Tuesdays; and in Klamath at Holiday Inn Express on Wednesdays. It’s open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.Even though much of the attention on fighting the virus has turned to vaccinations, testing is still an important part of the community’s fight against the virus.“It’s really important because there are large swaths of the population that are unable to get vaccines that are still vulnerable,” Grow said.While vaccines remain in slim supply, testing can still help to reduce the spread of COIVD-19 by identifying cases and getting them into isolation, according to grow.And beyond just the numbers, increased virus spread creates other risks, Grow said: The more the virus spreads, the higher chance it has to mutate and create new variants, like those that have begun to pop up across the globe.“If one of them ends up being more deadly and immune to the vaccine, then a lot of our work goes away,” Grow said.Right now, the site is helping the county’s student athletes get back to fields and courts with regular testing. But it’s been frequented by others wondering why there’s a big blue bus in the park, like visitors, walkers and others who find themselves nearby.The unit could turn into a vaccination site — OptumServe has run some vaccination sites across the state, with mixed success — but any plans to that effect haven’t yet been formalized or announced.According to Occhionero, though use of the county’s testing service has declined from a few months ago as people get more used to the virus, the mobile unit is still an important tool for those who’ve already received a dose of the vaccine, since the high-but-not-perfect efficacy of the vaccine means they’re not completely out of the woods yet.“We’re trying to tell people, just because you got your vaccine doesn’t mean you’re completely immune,” Occhionero said.That level of safety could take until the vast majority of the population is vaccinated, a target that could still be months away as doses remain in limited supply.“Until that happens, this is one of the only ways we are able to control the spread,” Grow said. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });