County health department to offer COVID-19 testing

A grant will allow the local health department to open its own drive-thru COVID-19 testing site Sept. 1.

The Community Based Testing Support grant is part of a joint effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Indiana State Department of Health to provide more free testing opportunities to the general public, said Betsy Swearingen, director of the Johnson County Health Department.

The grant provides $50,000 to open a test site, and comes with additional assistance from the state, including test kits, personal protective equipment for those administering tests, a tracking platform for testing, laboratory services and a courier service to get tests to the lab, Swearingen said. The grant will be active from Sept. 1 to June 30, 2021, with possibility for renewal in 2022 and 2023 if there is still a need and funding is still available, she said.

The plan calls for a drive-thru site, similar to those developed by the Marion County Health Department, Swearingen said. Patients will stay in their cars where a test administrator will swab them with minimal contact, she said.

Test administrators will be stationed outside the health department’s office during testing hours in some type of enclosed, climate-controlled environment, possibly a tent with a generator to provide power, Swearingen said. Some details about the site are still being worked out but are expected to be in place in the next couple of weeks, she said.

The tests will be administered by medically trained health department employees, with help from local paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs), Swearingen said.

Currently, three test sites are operating in Johnson County, but the site being set up by the health department will have fewer restrictions and allow for easier access. For example, the site will not require a doctor’s note or an employer test order, and will include evening and weekend hours, Swearingen said.

The health department will release specific details and hours closer to the site’s opening date.

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Here is a look at COVID-19 test sites operating now in Johnson County: 

Johnson Memorial Health

Location: 1125 W. Jefferson St., Franklin

Scheduling: by appointment only

Hours: 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Monday-Friday

Requirements to be tested: doctor’s note or surgical and pulmonary function test clearance for medical interventions at Johnson Memorial Health.

ISDH/Optum test site

Location: Johnson County National Guard Armory, 325 Minuteman Way, Franklin

Scheduling: by appointment only at lhi.care/covidtesting

Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday

Requirements to be Tested: anyone who lives or works in Indiana; there are no other testing requirements.

Walmart

Location: 1133 N. Emerson Ave., Greenwood; in the parking lot

Scheduling: by appointment only at doineedacovid19test.com/

Hours: 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, Friday

Requirements to be tested: anyone who meets CDC and state and local guidelines about who should be tested; includes first responders, health care providers and others with symptoms of COVID-19 and those in high-risk groups without symptoms.

Sources: Indiana State Health Department; coronavirus.in.gov/2524

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