Northampton County and Coordinated Health (now part of Lehigh Valley Health Network) opened a new COVID-19 drive-through testing site today. It is located at 3100 Emrick Blvd. Bethlehem, PA 18020. It will be open Monday through Friday from 10:00AM – 4:00PM. Saturday hours will be available twice a month from 9:00AM – 12:00 Noon. The drive-through testing center is located in the parking area to the rear of the building and is separate from patient parking and routine patient care.
“Until we have a vaccine or an effective treatment, testing and tracing are the key to limiting the transmission of the Coronavirus,” says Executive Lamont McClure. “I encourage everyone to continue washing their hands frequently, wearing a mask and getting tested if they develop any symptoms of COVID-19.”
A Physician’s order will not be required but, to be eligible for testing, individuals must report or display one or more CDC-recognized symptoms of COVID-19: fever, dry cough, shortness of breath, chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat or loss of taste and/or smell. The drive-through site will be open to everyone, but only residents of Northampton County will have the cost of testing covered by the County if they do not have health coverage. All testing will be through HNL Lab Medicine unless insurance requires an alternate laboratory. Participants should bring a photo ID and their insurance card, if they have one, with them to the testing site.
Becky Bartlett, Deputy Director of Administration, said it takes one to three days to get test results. "It depends on demand," she cautioned.
Who will do the contact tracing if a test comes back positive? According to Bartlett, it will be either Lehigh Valley Health Network or the state Department of Health.
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