At Fort Bragg, fighting spread of coronavirus with drive-thru screening, testing

Medical professionals, civilian and military from all across Fort Bragg come together at COVID-19 drive-thru screening and testing sites to fight the pandemic. At Fort Bragg, COVID-19 screening and testing have been in operation since the beginning of April as a means to conveniently test patients by limiting exposure.

"Everyone is here to support in several different capacities and we have a very strict protocol on who wears what due to infectious control concerns,” said Lt. Col. Stephen Cassle, the 248th Medical Detachment Veterinary Service Support commander.

The drive-thru screening site, located at the intersection of Honeycutt Road and Bragg Boulevard, allows patients to drive up and conduct a COVID-19 screening by nurses from their cars.

“Anyone that is within direct contact with a possible patient will be in full PPE,” said Cassle. “Drivers are asked to lower their window about a quarter of the way to answer screening questions.”

The screening location has several lanes depending on the traffic. Patients will answer a series of questions and then be directed either to the testing site or home with special instructions.

Nurses from several different departments within Womack Army Medical Center have been assigned to the two sites to screen and provide education on COVID-19.

“This has been a unique opportunity to work with the military and see how they handle missions like this when a crisis arise,” said Jenna Goode, a Womack registered nurse at the COVID-19 testing site.

If a patient has a positive screening, they will be asked to proceed to the drive-thru testing site, located at the Fort Bragg fairgrounds, to conduct a COVID-19 nasal wash test.

Every patient that conducts a test is tracked by the Fort Bragg Public Health Department and all positive results are reported to the patient’s chain of command and/or their county of residence.

“We encourage people that are experiencing symptoms come to the location alone, to decrease the risk of exposure during this," said Goode.

The drive-thru screening and testing sites are open daily from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The days of operation are subject to change due to mission support requirements and federal work schedules.