25% of COVID tests at Pasco site are positive. New testing opens in Richland to help with surge
Update: The Richland testing site has moved to 975 George Washington Way, near the police station.
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The Tri-Cities has opened a second free community COVID-19 testing site, expanding testing to seven days a week, and offering some relief for the staff at the busy Pasco site.
The new walk-up Richland testing site in the Columbia Playfield parking lot, 1005 Swift Blvd., will be open Sundays to Thursdays.
The free drive-thru testing site at Columbia Basin College off Argent Road in Pasco will continue to offer testing Fridays through Tuesdays.
It has been averaging more than 1,000 tests given a day recently as new cases have surged this summer.
On Tuesday, the first day after the Labor Day weekend, so many people showed up for testing at the Pasco site that traffic backed up onto the street and it had to close early.
About one in four test results at the site are positive.
People getting tested at the new Richland site, open 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. five days a week, do not need to make an appointment, but they are recommended.
Separate lines form for people with symptoms and without symptoms and registration for each line is separate.
People with symptoms can register at bit.ly/RichlandTest1. Those without symptoms can register at bit.ly/RichlandTest2.
The same University of Washington laboratory is being used to analyze samples and provide a quick turn around of results for both the Pasco and Richland test sites, according to the Benton Franklin Health District.
At the Richland site, people will park and then walk up to be tested.
The Pasco testing site at 3110 W. Argent Road is drive-thru and is open 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays.
Registration for the drive-thru site is not required but may be done for people with symptoms at bit.ly/PascoTest1. Those without symptoms may register at bit.ly/PascoTest2.
This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 5:32 PM.