LOWELL — A first-of-its-kind testing facility in Massachusetts promising hundreds of coronavirus tests a day and faster results will be up and running in Lowell Tuesday, part of a collaboration between the city, state and CVS Health.
Up to 1,000 people can get tested daily at the site, the Lowell Sun reports, which has been set up in the parking lot of the Showcase Cinemas at 32 Reiss Ave. Results are delivered within 15 minutes and there is no cost to patients.
CVS has opened similar rapid drive-through testing sites in Rhode Island and Georgia.
Here’s how it works:
People must preregister online for a same-day appointment time (no walk-ups are allowed) and are tested from the comfort of their own car. Positive results come back within five minutes and negative tests under 15 minutes, much faster than at most of the other coronavirus testing facilities in the state.
In order to get tested at the site, patients must be residents of Massachusetts, at least 18 years old and have coronavirus symptoms or be part of an at-risk group. A doctor’s referral is not needed.
You can register here for a same-day time slot.
On Sunday, the governor toured a drive-through testing site at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. Testing capacity has been a focus of the administration for weeks as Massachusetts has tried to get its arms around the full scale and scope of COVID-19 infections in the state. Baker set a goal of at least 3,500 new tests each day and Massachusetts has hit that mark most days for the last two weeks or so.
On Monday, the Department of Public Health said there were 4,492 new tests conducted between midday Sunday and midday Monday, bringing the state’s total number of tests conducted to 76,429.
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With State House News Service reports
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