Two COVID-19 drive-through testing sites are opening this Friday, May 15, in Wyandotte County. One site is located in the Walmart parking lot at 10824 Parallel Parkway, Kansas City, Kansas, and the other site is located in the Walmart parking lot at 12801 Kansas Ave., Bonner Springs.
“COVID testing in Wyandotte County remains a top priority, with the results helping determine when and how we best move forward,” Mayor-CEO David Alvey said. “These two newest drive-thru testing sites in Piper and Bonner Springs will complement the UG Health Department’s existing test sites and other ‘pop-up’ testing locations going on across our entire community.”
Both sites are supported by Walmart and eTrueNorth, in cooperation with state and local officials, to test anyone who meets CDC and state and local guidelines on who should be tested, including first responders, health care providers, others with symptoms of COVID-19, and those in high-risk groups without symptoms. Those interested in being tested need to visit www.DoINeedaCOVID19test.com to see if they are eligible for testing and to make an appointment. Anyone who meets CDC and state and local guidelines can be tested at no cost to the individual.
“We are happy to see more and more testing opportunities for our community members,” Dr. Allen Greiner, chief medical officer with the Unified Government Health Department, said. “Continuing to increase testing in Wyandotte County is critical to helping us slow the spread of COVID-19. This data also helps us gauge what steps are safest for our community as we implement our ReStart WyCo Road to Recovery plan.”
The two sites in Wyandotte County are among eight in communities across Kansas supported by Walmart, eTrueNorth, and state and local officials.
“Walmart is part of the community, and we are proud to help support the expansion of COVID-19 testing in Wyandotte County during this unprecedented time,” said Ryan Irsik, Walmart public affairs director for Kansas. “We are grateful to our associates who keep our stores running, our pharmacists who support these testing sites, and to eTrueNorth and local officials as we work together to open the sites and help our community.”
Details on the COVID-19 testing site:
• Beginning Friday, May 15, the sites are open Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays weekly, 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., weather permitting. Appointments must be made through eTrueNorth’s online portal at www.DoINeedaCOVID19test.com, which will screen individuals to ensure they meet CDC eligibility for testing.
• Anyone who meets CDC and state and local guidelines can be tested at no cost to the individual.
• For questions regarding testing, call 800-635-8611.
• Those being tested will need to wear a mask and stay in their cars for verification of eligibility criteria, ID check and self-administered test. For the safety of all those on-site, the test site is not available to those who walk up.
• The site will use a self-administered nasal swab test that will allow those being tested to swab their own nose onsite while in their vehicles, observed by a trained medical volunteer to ensure the sample is taken correctly, and then dropped in the sealed sample into a container on their way out of the drive-through site.
• eTrueNorth will handle processing test samples and communicating results to those tested and applicable Departments of Health.
• The site will be staffed by Walmart healthcare professionals.
• Please note, testing is not available inside Walmart stores.
• While individuals who are tested are awaiting results, follow CDC guidelines and take steps to help prevent the virus from spreading to people in your home and community.
Wyandotte County residents should call 800-635-8611 for questions about the Walmart testing sites.
The Walmart testing locations are not affiliated with the COVID-19 testing site at the UG Health Department or the “pop-up” testing sites organized by the Wyandotte County Health Equity Task Force. For more information on those sites, call 3-1-1 or go to https://www.wycokck.org/COVID-19.