SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — State health officials are continuing to roll out new COVID-19 testing sites in most counties across Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Department of Health, in partnership with AMI, will be hosting regional testing that changes each week so that 61 counties will be eventually covered by the pop-up testing sites.
Schuylkill County has seen more than 1,000 new cases in the last week.
In an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus, residents here can get tested this week for free.
Mass testing is now available at Schuylkill Intermediate Unit 29 Near Pottsville.
Emergency Management officials spent the week preparing for the testing company AMI to arrive this weekend.
"7:30 or so they began to set up, and about 8 o'clock, we had people in line for the 9 am opening," Said John Matz, Emergency Manager for Schuylkill County. "It's been a steady stream all morning long."
Organizers say they have the ability to do 440 tests per day for five days. After day one, they anticipate running out of tests before that five days is up.
Officials at the testing site say a lot of people are grateful to have testing close to home.
"They're very appreciative, we are encouraging everyone to get tested to stop, or slow down our spread of covid19, a lot of people are asymptomatic," said Craig Chance, Registered Nurse, Team Lead for the AMI testing site.
County officials say now is the perfect time to have this opportunity in Schuylkill County.
"Of course, people have students who are back from college, and particularly with the holidays, they may have been in contact with more people than normal," said Matz.
The tests being performed are PCR nasal swabs. Those who test positive can expect results by phone within 5 days, and those who test negative can expect an email within a week.
Many of the state testing sites offer both drive and walk-up services, but the Schuylkill County site is drive-up only.
You also need to bring a form of ID and fill out paperwork upon arrival.
"They do supply their driver's license if they have a health insurance card. We take that as well," said Chance. "It takes, I would say, 30-40 minutes from the time we give the form out to the time they get tested."
The site is open every day from now until Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., or until they run out of tests.
For more information on getting tested for COVID-19, please visit the Department of Health's website.