CVS Health today announced the launch of a new rapid COVID-19 drive-through testing site in New Haven, Connecticut, in conjunction with federal and state officials. The site will provide state residents with rapid COVID-19 testing and on-the-spot results at no cost, using the new Abbott ID NOW™ COVID-19 test. CVS Health opened similar large-scale rapid testing sites last week in Georgia, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and since March the company has conducted approximately 25,000 COVID-19 tests.
Testing will be overseen by licensed health care providers from MinuteClinic, the retail medical clinic inside CVS Pharmacy locations, with assistance from CVS pharmacists and will take place in a parking lot at the former Gateway Community College campus at Long Wharf, located at 60 Sargent Drive in New Haven. Patients will receive results on-site so they can properly quarantine or seek treatment as appropriate. No COVID-19 testing will take place at CVS Pharmacy or MinuteClinic locations.
“Rapid testing is a crucial step in helping communities manage the spread of the virus, and this is a concrete example of the private and public sectors coming together to bring much needed testing capabilities to some of the hardest hit states like Connecticut,” said Troyen Brennan, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, CVS Health. “With four large-scale sites now operating across the country, our dedicated health care professionals are able to process thousands of tests every day.”
“While a vaccine does not yet exist for this virus, one of the ways we can mitigate its impact is through increasing our testing capacity,” said Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont. “Not only will this new testing site significantly increase the number of people being tested, but the speed at which we can get results will aid in our effort to prevent further spread of this disease. Public-private partnerships like this will only strengthen our state in the fight against the coronavirus. We appreciate the community outreach that CVS Health is doing here in Connecticut as their work is quite literally saving lives.”
Rapid COVID-19 testing will be available to eligible individuals who meet criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in addition to state residency and age guidelines. Patients will need to pre-register in advance online at CVS.com in order to schedule a same-day time slot for testing. To help ensure the safety of both patients and health care providers, the testing site cannot accommodate walk-ups and patients are required to remain in their vehicles throughout the entire testing process.