Tennessee Organizes Free COVID-19 Testing Events In 3 Rural Counties

photo: Master Sgt. Kayla Ware, with the Tennessee Air National Guard, administers a COVID-19 test to a driver at the Rutherford County Health Department on Thursday, July 2, 2020, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. credit: Mark Humphrey / AP

The Center Square [By Vivian Jones]- 

COVID-19 tests will be available at no cost to patients in Grundy, Fentress and Dyer counties this weekend, kicking off an ongoing effort to provide weekend drive-thru testing to rural Tennesseans.

Gov. Bill Lee’s Unified Command Group is working to organize drive-thru testing sites in response to rising case rates in rural areas.

“We’ve seen an upward trend in COVID cases in rural Tennessee that are cause for concern,” Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey said in a statement. “Bringing back weekend drive through testing helps with access to testing which will help combat COVID-19’s continued health threat.”

Testing will be available at Grundy County High School in Coalmont, Fentress County Senior Citizens Center in Jamestown and at Dyersburg High School in Dyer County. Testing sites will be staffed by Tennessee National Guard medics and personnel from the Tennessee Department of Health.

All three testing sites will be open from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday and will remain open until all vehicles in line have received tests. Participants should receive test results within 72 hours.

“In addition to testing, Tennesseans need to take simple, yet impactful, precautions – wearing masks, washing hands, and social distancing – to protect themselves,” Piercey said.