Three new coronavirus testing sites will open in the Baltimore area this week in response to the surge in demand for swabs.
A drive-thru coronavirus testing site is slated to open in Baltimore Thursday afternoon, Councilman Isaac “Yitzy” Schleifer announced.
Located at the former Baltimore City Public Safety Training Facility, near the Pimlico Race Course, the site will be open 12:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, according to a statement released by the Democrat from District 5.
Accu Reference Medical Lab will operate the site at 3500 W Northern Parkway, Schleifer’s statement said. It will offer polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests. You can register for a free test here.
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Schleifer commended Mayor Brandon Scott and Council President Nick Mosby, both Democrats, and the city’s health and fire departments for making the testing site possible.
“After witnessing a significant shortage of COVID testing locations and the painfully long lines that Baltimore City residents have been enduring to be tested, I knew we could do better,” Schleifer’s statement said.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan also said walk-up PCR test sites would open Friday, one at University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Health in Bel Air and the other at Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis. Both will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Hogan said, and will not require payment.
The University of Maryland Medical System and the Luminis Health medical network, along with the Maryland National Guard, will staff these new sites, Hogan said.
“While the federal government has fallen short in expanding testing, we are doing all we can at the state level to further scale up these operations,” Hogan said in a statement. In addition to getting tested, we urge Marylanders to get boosted now for the strongest possible protection against the highly transmissible Omicron variant.”
The public should not seek out tests at hospital emergency rooms, according to Thursday’s news release from the governor. The state’s other testing sites are located in Baltimore, Annapolis and Prince George’s counties.