COVID testing tent opens Tuesday

By Terry Murry on Monday, September 27th, 2021 in Columbia Basin News Columbia Basin Top Stories

WALLA WALLA – A new, free COVID-19 testing tent opens on the Providence Southgate Medical Park campus, 1025 South Second Avenue on Tuesday. The Walla Walla County Department of Community Health and Providence are partnering with the University of Washington Department of Medicine COVID Testing Program to open the testing tent near Providence Urgent Care. The testing tent will be open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

It should take no more than 10 minutes for people to park, enter the tent, get swabbed and go on their way, according to organizers. People with mobility issues can park in the designated accessible parking area and call the posted phone number to receive a test without leaving their vehicles. Results of the test should be available in about 24 hours after being administered by UW.

“Making testing easier and more accessible is essential to controlling COVID-19 in our community,” Walla Walla County Public Health Officer Dr. Daniel Kaminsky said. “We hope this will free up more capacity in area clinics and the Providence St. Mary Emergency Department to care for sick individuals, rather than diverting scarce health care resources to performing testing.”

The testing tent site is intended for people with mild to moderate COVID-19 symptoms or other COVID testing needs, except for pre-procedure testing. People with more severe symptoms will be directed to Providence Urgent Care to be seen by a provider.

MYCB photo by Dan Thesman