Whatcom County’s Covid-19 mobile testing program will offer a free, low-barrier test site at the Birch Bay Bible Community Church parking lot when the pilot phase is complete.
This week, the pilot program started accepting registrations from anyone, including those without insurance or a physician’s referral, for testing at a site in Bellingham.
Tests are available by appointment only and can be scheduled online starting the Saturday prior at TestDirectly.com/whatcom or by calling 360/778-6075 between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m daily. This week, testing appointments can be scheduled on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 1-4 p.m., in Bellingham, according to a press release from the Whatcom County Health Department.
The program is expected to launch six additional testing sites by August 24, the press release says. Blaine and every other school district in the county will have a testing site.
Public information officer Amy Cloud said the hope is to have the additional testing sites active by Monday, August 24, but the county cannot confirm that to be true until the end of the week.
The health department piloted the low-barrier, mobile testing program with assistance from licensed medical professionals and Whatcom Unified Command (WUC) last week but was not accepting registrations due to an already full queue of people.
“We know that timely testing and results are essential in preventing the spread of Covid-19. We also know there are several barriers to testing, whether it’s access to insurance or a primary care provider, reasonable wait times, or distance from home,” said Erika Lautenbach, director of the Whatcom County Health Department. “We’re providing this additional long-term testing option to address those barriers and augment the testing options already offered by Northwest Laboratory and healthcare providers in our community.”
According to data on the health department website, the Blaine school district area has the second lowest rate of new Covid-19 cases in the county with 23 confirmed cases per 100,000 people for the past two weeks, meeting the state goal of fewer than 25 cases per 100,000 people. The area has a total of 58 confirmed cases as of August 17.
The current testing site, at 211 E. Champion Street in Bellingham, will have the capacity to serve up to 240 people each day by next week as staff and volunteers work to fine-tune systems this week. Altogether, the health department expects to be able to test up to 480 people per day with the additional sites.
In a news briefing August 18, McCreery announced the county’s six additional drive-thru testing locations:
• Birch Bay Bible Community Church parking lot, 4460 Bay Road.
• Ferndale Events Center parking lot, 5715 Barrett Road.
• Bender Fields parking lot, 8770 Bender Road, in Lynden.
• Guru Nanak Gursikh Gurudwara temple parking lot, 176 E. Pole Road, in the Meridian School District.
• Old Nooksack River Casino parking lot, 5048 Mount Baker Highway.
• Christ Fellowship church, 1208 E. Main Street, Everson.
People who provide an email address when they register for an appointment online or by phone will receive their results within 24 hours of being tested, otherwise they will be notified by phone by the department within 72 hours. The health department says it will call anyone who tests positive to notify them and provide information about how to safely isolate from others.
Individuals with insurance must provide their information when scheduling their appointment for billing purposes, or they may be responsible for the cost of a test. According to the press release, the cost of free tests for those without insurance will be taken care of by a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services program, funded by the CARES Act and other coronavirus relief funds, that will reimburse the health department for all costs associated with the test.
The mobile system, which includes the online registration and scheduling system, is provided by TestDirectly, while Northwest Laboratory processes all specimens collected. TestDirectly is a Los Angeles-based software company that provides a direct-to-consumer portal for laboratory testing, according to its website.
The program is designed to use drive-through testing sites, but accommodations can be made for anyone without access to a vehicle by calling 360/778-6075.
In July, the county’s pilot project at Bellingham’s Civic Field Stadium tested about 1,800 people in four days of drive-through and walk-up testing. The program cost about $126,000 and required more than 50 volunteers a day, which McCreery said is unsustainable for WUC and the health department.
“Lessons learned from the previous testing pilot program helped to inform the process and make it more convenient for those seeking testing,” McCreery said. “We’re excited about the increased testing capacity, ease of use and convenience brought about by our collaboration with Northwest Laboratory and TestDirectly. This is definitely a step-change for the community.”
The health department encourages people who can get tested by their healthcare providers to do so.
For more information on the testing program, visit whatcomcounty.us/covidtesting.
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