Three CVS sites in Merced County to offer coronavirus testing, starting Friday
CVS Pharmacy is expanding coronavirus screening in California with the addition of 91 new drive-through testing sites Friday — including a few in Merced County.
The new sites utilize self-swab tests at drive-thru CVS locations throughout the state. Patients can register in advance at CVS.com beginning Friday to schedule an appointment, according to a CVS news release.
Self-swab locations coming to Merced County include CVS Pharmacy locations at: 1970 Yosemite Parkway in Merced, 1651 Bellevue Road in Atwater and 474 Winton Parkway in Livingston.
Patients must stay in their cars while directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window, or to the parking lot at some stores. They will be given a test kit and instructions while a CVS Pharmacy team member observes to ensure that the self-swab is completed correctly.
Testing will not be done inside any CVS retail locations.
Tests are sent to a third-party lab for processing, with results available in about three days.
Many of the new CVS testing sites will serve communities with the greatest need for support, as measured by the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, the release said.
The index tracks variables like poverty, lack of access to transportation and crowded housing that may weaken a community’s ability to prepare for and recover from events like disease outbreaks.
The additional testing sites complete CVS’s commitment to establish 1,000 locations across the country by the end of May. The sites help enable its goal of processing up to 1.5 million coronavirus tests each month, pending availability of supplies and lab capacity.
“CVS Health has been at the forefront of helping our nation scale-up COVID-19 testing capabilities, and we’re proud to meet our goal of establishing 1,000 testing sites in communities across the country,” said Larry J. Merlo, President and CEO of CVS Health, in the news release.
“Opening access to testing to more locations using our drive-thru window represents an important milestone in our response to the pandemic,” Merlo said. “We remain grateful for the daily efforts and sacrifices of our front-line colleagues who make the continued expansion of our testing possible.”
The new sites expand Merced County’s coronavirus testing from its existing sites at the Merced County Fairgrounds, its mobile testing sites and testing done by medical providers.
This story was originally published May 28, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
