Mercer County Health Department (“MCHD”) announced changes in the drive through procedures for the COVID-19 testing clinics that will become effective immediately. The changes are as follows:
· Testing clinics will run from 8:15 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Monday – Thursday and 8:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Friday mornings.
· There will be no further need to call MCHD for an appointment. All testing will be drive through ONLY on a first come, first serve basis as long as our testing supply allows.
· Due to high community transmission rates and increase in testing numbers, please anticipate waiting in line for extended periods of time.
· All appointments made previously are still welcome to test at our clinics on a first come, first serve basis.
Carla Ewing, Administrator, explains, “We have seen a marked increase in the number of individuals who are arriving at our testing site with no appointment. We simply do not have the capacity with our staffing or physical set up to ensure that those with appointments are served in the time in which they set their appointment. Additionally, with the increase in individuals testing on a daily basis, this is the most expedient manner in which to serve as many individuals as possible while keeping our staff safe during inclement weather and ensuring that we keep our testing results accurate during our clinics.”
MCHD expects the number of individuals who test to increase over the next several weeks. Ewing adds, “We added a Friday morning testing period to potentially alleviate some of the long waits we are seeing throughout the week. As of 3:15 p.m. today, we have tested over 130 individuals, with 40 being positive. We also have a line of cars for two blocks wanting to be tested. We want to assist as many Mercer County residents as we possibly can with our clinics and hope that Fridays will help in this endeavor. We will run these Friday testing clinics through the month of January and then evaluate the ongoing need at the end of the month.”