Outdoor coronavirus testing site to open in Lebanon County …

Free coronavirus testing will be available in Lebanon County next weekend in light of the region’s rising case count.

The Department of Health announced testing will be available from Oct. 24–28 at the Lebanon Fire Training Center in Lebanon.

Up to 440 people can be tested per day at the Fire Training Center, according to the Department of Health. Testing is free and provided on a first come, first-served basis.

Appointments are not necessary and residents do not need to be showing symptoms to be tested. Patients should arrive with photo identification and an insurance card.

AMI Expeditionary Healthcare will be running the site, as well as others in Centre, Columbia, Indiana, Berks and Northumberland counties through a contract with the Department of Health.

State health officials decide where testing needs to be increased based on the number of cases over the last 14 days per 100,000 people. Other factors include county population and where outbreaks are taking place.

Lebanon County has the fifth highest positivity percentage this week at 8.2 percent. The percentage was 7.4 the week before, according to the Department of Health.

“Since the beginning of September, we have seen an increase of 871 cases in Lebanon County, which gives us significant cause for concern,” said Department of Health Secretary Rachel Levine. “These testing sites will be open to anyone who feels they need a test. It is important that even people with no symptoms who test positive isolate and quarantine to stop the spread of COVID-19.”

Residents can expect to wait two to seven days before receiving their test results. The patients and everyone they live with should quarantine until they receive the results, health officials said.

Testing will be available at the Fire Training Center at 833 Metro Drive in Lebanon through Oct. 28, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.

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