Wake County closing COVID-19 drive-thru test sites Friday. Here are your other options
Despite the recent rise in COVID-19 cases, Wake County is ending its drive-thru testing on Friday.
This means people who have relied on the clinics for more than two years will have to find another option.
COVID cases have spiked recently, with more than 32,000 new cases this week – the most cases added in a week since February. Hospital admissions climbed 17%, reaching nearly 1,300 this week.
Speedy turnaround times at Wake County’s COVID testing sites have kept people coming back.
Since June 2020, Radeas Labs has given 1.6 million tests. January’s high demand of 216,000 tests has dropped off considerably, to just over 24,000 in June and 7,000 in July.
"We would challenge anyone in the entire country to find an area that tested as robustly as we did and for so long," says Matt Calabria, who was chairman of the Wake County Commissioners when the pandemic started.
With federal funding running dry, the days of long lines and packed parking lots are over.
"The county very quickly understood this was in many ways a matter of life and death," said Calabria. “It’s easier for us to scale down knowing that everyone will still have many, many options for getting tested.”
Other options for COVID-19 testing in Wake County
There are still plenty of options for COVID-19 testing, with more than 14 locations in Wake County alone.
Several Mako Medical sites like Word of God Fellowship Church are still open. Plus, Walgreens and CVS still offer testing. State-funded sites the PNC Arena are also still open for testing.
The U.S. Postal Service is offering a third round of free, at-home tests. You can get eight of them. You can also order free, at-home PCR tests, through LabCorp.
Many people probably don’t realize that they are eligible for more of those free at-home tests from the federal government.
LabCorp and Mako Medical are turning around results in 1 to 2 days. Radeas, which delivers results in about 12 hours, will continue free testing at its headquarters in Wake Forest.
Calabria says he’s proud of the county’s partnership with Radeas to keep people protected.
“We have saved lives through this program. That’s the most important thing," he said.
Wake County used more than $131 million in COVID relief funds to support testing. The county spent $2 million in taxpayer money to keep the sites up and running in the month go July.
