Free COVID-19 testing site set up in Lexington County on weekdays
After operating several popup COVID-19 testing sites across Lexington County, officials at Lexington Medical Center said the hospital is establishing a fixed location for free screening.
The West Columbia location, at 139 Summer Place Drive, will be open Monday through Friday for drive-thru testing, hospital spokeswoman Jennifer Wilson said Thursday in a news release. That’s a mile from Lexington Medical Center, across U.S. 378 (Sunset Boulevard).
Weekday screening for the coronavirus will be conducted from 8 a.m. to 1 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, Wilson said.
Unlike the popup testing events, appointments will be required for anyone looking to be screened. And if more than one person in a vehicle wants to be tested, a separate appointment must be scheduled for each individual, according to the release.
Appointments can be made online at LexMed.com/CovidTest. There are 40 slots available for every 90 minute interval, and short waits are possible, hospital officials said.
Testing will be administered from the seat of a car, and patients do not need to get out of the vehicle. Anyone going to get tested must wear a mask or face covering.
The drive-thru format will involve a clinician inserting a 6-inch long swab into the nose for 15 seconds and rotating it several times, before repeating the process on the other nostril, according to the release.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control is providing test kits and will process the results, hospital officials said.
Results will be available in approximately seven days, Wilson said. People testing positive will be notified by phone, while those with a negative result will be notified by mail.
Questions about the testing and the event can be asked at www.scdhec.gov or 803-898-3432.
Lexington Medical Center has previously held free COVID-19 screenings for more than 5,000 people at events at Lexington High School, Chapin High School, Irmo High School, White Knoll High School, Brookland Baptist Church, Willow Ridge Church, Batesburg-Leesville Elementary School and Schumpert’s IGA in Pelion, according to the release.
This is one of several community testing sites being made available across the Midlands by either DHEC, Lexington Medical Center or Prisma Health.
Prisma Health also just set up a stationary testing site in Columbia that conducts COVID-19 screening three times a week. Since Aug. 8, free coronavirus tests have been made available to the community until noon on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday at at 2204 Lee St., according to Prisma officials. That’s a block from the intersection of Devine and Harden streets in Five Points.
People looking to get tested are asked to drive to the intersection of Greene and Heidt streets, where vehicles will get in line.
Through Wednesday, there were 102,143 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 2,057 deaths in South Carolina, health officials said. Lexington County has reported 4,959 positive tests and 113 coronavirus-related deaths, according to DHEC.
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