GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — If you’ve been near an area health facility, you may have noticed a stack of shipping containers in the parking lot. Those are COVID-19 testing sites.
Drive through COVID-19 testing is live now at some Prevea facilities in the region, but unless you’re showing symptoms, Prevea President and CEO Dr. Ashok Rai says you shouldn’t go there.
“This is not for everybody right now,” Rai told WTAQ. “This for people who have been screened and we feel need to be tested. Either they’re in healthcare or have a chronic underlying disease and have symptoms.”
The drive-through facilities keep potential patients out of clinics where they could infect others. Staff working at the facilities interact with patients using personal protective gear and patients are tested–using a deep nose swab–right in their car.
“The safest way [to test] is not to come into our facilities,” Rai said. “It’s drive through testing. That’s what was found in other countries and environments where it is working really well.”
Other healthcare groups in the area, such as Bellin Health and Aurora Baycare have also started or are working on starting drive-through testing.
