TUCSON, Ariz. — Three Pima Community College campuses are now offering weekly drive-thru COVID-19 testing. County health officials say identifying and isolating the sick is one of the few tools we have to combat the spreading virus. You can make an appointment and drive on up.
“We’re going to have 3 sites per week with the capacity to handle 500 vehicles,” said PCHD Division Manager Louie Valenzuela.
New drive-thru locations will be using a saliva-based test. It will tell you if you have an active infection and you administer it yourself inside your car.
“People in the car can drive up, they are given a tube and straw to give a saliva sample,” said Valenzuela. “They are monitored by a healthcare professional; they hand it back through the window and it is all done very safely with limited contact.”
Valenzuela says they are urging anyone who thinks they have been exposed or have symptoms to get tested.
“It’s one of the few tools in our tool chest to identify and then isolate people who are positive.”
People who get tested are asked to isolate themselves until they get the results. The sites include Pima Community College West Campus on Mondays, Desert Vista Campus on Wednesdays and East Campus on Fridays.
“A higher surge will obviously put us in a situation where we need to request additional resources.”
Valenzuela says our health system is already nearing capacity. He hopes increased testing will keep an expected holiday surge somewhat under control.
“It’s sort of like a train coming that we know is going to come, we just need to be in a place where we can lay the tracks so we can manage it effectively,” he said.
Here’s a link to times and locations.Walk-up testing is also available without an appointment.
