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Boone Memorial to offer FREE Drive-Thru COVID-19 Testing this Friday and Saturday, 10/23 - 10/24

bmh4wv
Oct 21, 2020
2 min read

Updated: Oct 23, 2020

Boone Memorial Hospital, in partnership with the WV National Guard and WVDHHR (Department of Health and Human Resources), will offer FREE drive-thru COVID-19 testing this Friday, October 23rd and Saturday, October 24th.

"Governor Jim Justice and his staff were also instrumental in defining roles and partnerships," said Boone Memorial CEO, Virgil Underwood. "They made the initial contacts and got the ball rolling to ensure the event would be a success."

While Boone Memorial has been offering weekly COVID-19 drive-thru testing on State Street in Madison, the hospital wanted to expand its efforts.

"With the start of school, some of our community members have grown concerned," said Underwood. "We want to ensure testing is wide-spread and easily accessible. We hope this free event, along with our current weekly testing, will help ease minds."

This weekend's testing will take place from 3pm - 7pm on Friday, Oct 23rd and from 9am - 2pm on Saturday, Oct 24th. The testing will be held in the parking lot of the former Magic Mart Building, located in Danville.

"A saliva test, versus the nasal swab, will be administered this weekend," said Underwood. "The saliva test is easier to perform - spitting into a cup versus submitting to a swab - and more comfortable," he said.

Both the saliva and swab tests work by detecting genetic material from the coronavirus. Both tests are very specific, meaning that a positive test almost always means that the person is infected with the virus. However, both tests can be negative, even if a person is proven later to be infected (known as a false negative). This is especially true for people who carry the virus but have no symptoms.

Special requirements and instructions to be tested:

Please bring your smartphone to register. Must have a valid email address.
If the patient is under 21 years of age, he/she will be prompted during registration to either upload a photo of the accompanying parent/legal guardian or upload a photo of the parent/legal guardian driver's license.
Please hydrate well in advance. However, patients may not have anything to eat or drink within 30 minutes of receiving the test. This includes mints, gum, smoking, vaping and/or smokeless tobacco.
Patients of any age are welcome, pending they can produce an adequate amount of saliva for testing.
Test results will be provided within approximately 24-48 hours via the email address given at registration.
Testing is free of charge (no insurance or medical cards needed).