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This week, doctors and nurses in Danbury began providing mobile testing on hospital grounds to allow for faster, safer, testing without potential patents even having to leave their vehicles.
Mobile testing sites feature multiple lanes for area residents to drive into, get tested in their cars by doctors or nurses, and then drive away within minutes. Those tests are then sent to a lab to determine whether the patient is positive for coronavirus without risking exposure to patients or hospital staff.
According to healthcare leaders at both Hartford HealthCare and Yale-New Haven Health, drive through tests take less than five minutes. The test is conducted in open-air areas and clinicians wear protective gear to prevent the spread of the virus.
Mobile labs have the capacity to conduct upwards of 100 tests daily, and the results are typically returned within five days.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont made note that patients can’t simply drive up to the outdoor sites, and one requires a doctor’s approval before getting tested.
Health officials said that one should only call their physicians if they experience coronavirus symptoms such as fevers, shortness of breath, aches, and pains.
To schedule an appointment at the collection site, one should call (203) 739-4344. The appointments will be made within 24 hours.
“In order to help protect patients and support social distancing, alternate COVID-19 testing locations have been approved at several hospitals throughout Connecticut, and each of them is at varying stages of setting-up drive-through testing procedures.”
Other hospitals that have been given approval for drive-through coronavirus testing:
- Bridgeport Hospital;
- Bristol Health;
- Greenwich Hospital;
- Hartford Hospital
- Saint Francis Hospital;
- Saint Mary’s Hospital;
- Waterbury Hospital;
- Yale-New Haven Hospital.
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