Demand Picking Up For Coronavirus Drive-Thru Testing On North Side
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Coronavirus testing continued on the North Side Thursday and the demand has picked up since things started on Monday.
When testing first started, the line of cars filled the parking lot of Central Outreach Wellness Center and wrapped onto Isabella Street and around onto Anderson Street. The problem is, tests are hard to come by.
The doctor KDKA interviewed on site who's doing testing said they got 60 tests Thursday morning; however, not everyone will be tested for COVID-19, some will just be screened.
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During screening, patients are asked a series of questions, including symptoms. If they don't appear to have symptoms related to coronavirus, they won't get tested. However, they are asked to just stay home.
"Some people are definitely panicked and coming here with no symptoms and wanting tested. We are discouraging people from doing that. We want people to only come if they have symptoms of an upper respiratory infection. Especially if they are a health care worker, we need them to get back to work, or a critical part of our society like police officers or firefighters, we want them to be tested," Dr. Stacy Lane, the founder of Central Outreach Wellness, said.
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Dr. Lang said she'd love to test everyone, but she can't because they aren't getting those tests in from the labs they're ordering from fast enough.
Central Outreach Wellness also has another location where they're doing testing in Aliquippa.
Between the two locations, Dr. Lang said they've screened around 550 people and tested around 170 since testing started on Monday. That doesn't include Thursday's testing. They'll be testing all week as long as tests are available.
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