Drive-Thru COVID-19 Testing Site Opens At Ontario International Airport
ONTARIO (CBSLA) — Ontario International Airport opened a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site just in time for the increase in air travel for the holidays.
About 100,000 passengers are expected to travel through Ontario International Airport during the Thanksgiving holiday traveling period, with another 180,000 projected to pass through for the Christmas and New Year's holidays. Those numbers represent just 60% of last year's traveler volume, airport officials said.
Even though public health and government officials are people to stay home for the holidays, many people are braving the skies in order to see family and friends after months of staying safe at home.
"It is our hope that on-site testing administered in the comfort of a passenger vehicle will provide peace of mind to our customers, guests and airport employees, as well as any of our neighbors who want to be tested," Mark Thorpe, CEO of the Ontario International Airport Authority, said in a statement.
Ontario Airport's drive-thru testing clinic is being administered by non-profit Covid Clinic. A number of tests are available, including rapid tests that provide results in as few as 20 minutes because those specimens are processed on-site. The drive-thru testing site is in parking lot 3 between terminals 2 and 4.
On its first day, tests are available from 3 to 9 p.m., but will afterward be available from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.
Thorpe says holiday travel volumes could fluctuate because most passengers are purchasing airline tickets within 30 days of departure due to surges in COVID-19 infections, government orders to pause reopenings, and public health officials urging family gatherings be limited.
But with all that in mind, Ontario Airport officials say its traffic growth has been on the upswing for six straight months since April, when passenger levels plummeted 93%.
Visit covidclinic.org for more information or to make a reservation at Ontario International Airport's testing site.
LAX is also offering COVID-19 tests for purchase.