Eat turkey, go shopping, get a COVID test. Tri-Cities testing open Thanksgiving
You can get a free drive-thru test in the Tri-Cities for COVID-19 on Thanksgiving or Black Friday.
The drive-thru test site at 3110 W. Argent Road by Columbia Basin College in Pasco will remain open every day this week from 8:30 a.m to 4 p.m.
Testing is done by the Pasco Fire Department and other local agencies.
The only day it is planned to be closed through the end of the year is on Christmas Day.
Workers at the site collected samples from 880 people for testing Monday, setting a new record and causing some traffic backups.
The site was planned to serve up to 500 people a day.
“We are concerned about the traffic around the test site, and we are in discussions with CBC and the state on how we can best help the traffic,” said Ben Shearer of the Pasco Fire Department. But no change is planned this week.
Anyone can get a test without a doctor’s order, but he is cautioning those who want a test just to attend a Thanksgiving or weekend event.
The coronavirus may not show up on in a test result until four to five days after exposure, so a negative test can give a false sense of security.
The free drive-thru test center run by the Washington National Guard at the HAPO Center in Pasco is normally open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, but will be closed Thanksgiving Day and the day after.
The Benton Franklin Health District posts details about other places tests are available in the two-county area at bit.ly/Tri-CitiesTesting.
Optional preregistration also can be done on that website for testing at the Argent Road site. However, preregistration and an appointment will not make the line to get into testing any faster, just shorten the time on site because the paperwork is ready.
Appointments are not needed but the preregistration cannot be unlinked from the appointment function on the UW Medicine website being used.
Administrators of the free testing site are asking people who come for testing to be patient.
They also warn that although the site is open until 4 p.m., the line may be cut off earlier than that so all tests can be conducted by 4 p.m. and testing samples sent off.