As California ramps up coronavirus testing of the general population, the state is still about two weeks away from any mandatory testing of its most vulnerable residents: those in nursing homes.

But Newsom and his top health official later acknowledged that the state still needs more time and resources to begin requiring testing in nursing homes for both residents and staff.

Yet several experts said they believed state health officials should immediately prioritize nursing home residents – and the staff who care for them – before mass testing the general public.

California has largely left decisions on who gets tested in the state’s 1,224 nursing homes to local health departments, even as governors in Maryland, Delaware and Tennessee have promised statewide universal testing for every nursing home resident and worker.

California’s state public health agency has offered guidance that residents and workers in skilled nursing facilities should be tested under the following conditions: if they show symptoms;  if a new patient transfers into a home or is readmitted after a hospital stay, or if other positive cases have been identified in the facility.