The new ordinance “is critical to deal with the significant volume of complaints,” County Counsel James Williams told the Board of Supervisors.

Testing can identify Covid-19 before a person feels unwell or before they spread it to another individual with potentially deadly consequences.

The sites use a system in which people are assigned a testing time later in the day; all slots are often claimed within hours of availability.

County data show that testing increased significantly in the month following a June 10 order for private healthcare systems to step up.