Free COVID-19 testing event to be held from the seat of your car in Lexington County
Free COVID-19 testing will be held in Lexington County next week.
The event will be held at White Knoll High School on June 2, according to a news release from Lexington Medical Center, which is conducting the testing along with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. It was arranged at the request of Senator Katrina Shealy, hospital officials said.
The free testing is open to everyone from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., according to the release.
People looking to be tested for the coronavirus do not need to have symptoms or a doctor’s order, and no appointments are necessary, hospital officials said.
Testing will be administered from the seat of a car, for those driving into parking lot C at the high school at 5643 Platt Springs Road.
The drive-thru format will involve a clinician inserting a 6-inch long swab into the cavity between the nose and mouth for 15 seconds and rotating it several times, before repeating the process on the other side of the nose, according to the release.
DHEC is providing test kits, which will go to third-party labs for processing, hospital officials said.
Questions about the testing and the event can be made at www.scdhec.gov, or 803-898-3432.
This is one of several community testing sites being made available across the Midlands by either DHEC, Lexington Medical Center, or Prisma Health.
Since testing began, 572 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Lexington County, according to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. That is the fourth highest amount in South Carolina, behind Richland County (1,386), Greenville County (1,344), and Florence County (605).
Through Tuesday, there have been 10,416 positive cases of COVID-19 in South Carolina, and 446 coronavirus-related deaths, health officials said.
There have been 162,318 combined negative tests at DHEC’s public health laboratory and at private labs.
Symptoms of coronavirus can include a fever, coughing, and difficulty breathing, according to the CDC. Other symptoms that could be signs are chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, and new loss of taste or smell, according to DHEC.
Among the emergency warning signs of COVID-19 is trouble breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, and blueish lips or face, the CDC said.
As of Wednesday, 5,639,960 people worldwide have been diagnosed with coronavirus and 352,674 people have died, while 2,321,766 have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States leads the world with 1,689,145 people who have been diagnosed with the novel virus. In the U.S. 99,674 deaths have been reported, including 29,350 in New York City, according to Johns Hopkins.
This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 1:53 PM.
