Wake County adds COVID test appointments for Christmas Eve
To help meet increased holiday demand, Wake County has added COVID testing appointments for Christmas Eve.
The Word of God Fellowship Church testing site in Raleigh will be open Friday, Dec. 24 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m, NCDHHS said Thursday afternoon. Registration required at this link. This testing site is located at 3000 Rock Quarry Road off Interstate 40 in Southeast Raleigh.
They hope to have results by morning or midday on Saturday, Dec. 25 (Christmas Day), said Mako, the state’s testing vendor. Their lab teams will be working on Christmas Day until all specimens are processed.
The county had already doubled its daily COVID-19 testing appointments on Thursday.
The county, which provides about half the tests available in Wake, offered roughly 13,000 daily testing slots across all five drive-through testing sites.
That change made nearly 7,000 new appointments available, Wake County Public Health stated in a news release. All sites are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and will reopen at those hours Monday after the holiday weekend.
Test results from these Wake County Public Health sites are expected to continue to come back in less than 12 hours and they require no cost, no ID and no insurance. Appointments are required, though.
“We encourage the public to secure a testing slot if they are showing symptoms of COVID-19, and appointments for these people will continue to be prioritized,” county officials stated in the news release.
Where to get your test
These five drive-through sites, sponsored by United Providers of Health, offer ongoing PCR tests with results back from the lab within 24 to 48 hours (via email), The News & Observer reported Wednesday.
Register for a time slot at any of them by calling 800-701-1023 or registering here. (Website: upoh.org/covid-testing)
Boys and Girls Club – 721 N. Raleigh Blvd. in Raleigh
Care Tax Service – 909 Rock Quarry Road in Raleigh
Justice Served – 202 N. Tarboro St. in Raleigh
McDonald’s (adjacent parking lot) – 830 E. Williams St. in Apex
The Fountain of Raleigh Fellowship – 9621 Six Forks Road in Raleigh
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services is also opening a drive-through testing site from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday at Word of God Fellowship Church, 3000 Rock Quarry Road off Interstate 40 in Southeast Raleigh.
There are no out-of-pocket costs for testing at this site. Pre-registration is required at this link, and insurance information, if available, should be completed in advance. Test results at this location should be returned within 12 to 36 hours.
Some other ways to get a COVID test:
• Your doctor, pharmacy: In addition to these sites, many pharmacies, doctors’ offices and health clinics offer testing for the virus, the county release stated.
• Use this online tool: Use the COVID-19 Test Site Finder for a complete list of locations and to find the ones closest to you. This N&O report has complete instructions for using the COVID-19 Test Site Finder.
• Request an at-home test kit: You can also request a free at-home testing kit shipped overnight via FedEx, with results available online usually within two days after your sample arrives at the lab, according to the release.
How to time a COVID test before a gathering
Dr. David Wohl, from the UNC School of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases, recommends testing twice:
- Three days before gathering: “If you are gathering with others during the holiday and expect to be unmasked indoors with them, I suggest all getting a PCR test at a pharmacy or clinic three days before to give you enough time to get the results back,” he said.
- The day of the gathering: Take a rapid home test.
“These viruses grow fast so testing 1 or 2 days before doesn’t work,” Dr. Michael Mina, an epidemiologist at Harvard and a proponent of rapid testing, Tweeted on Dec. 12. “It doesn’t matter the type of test, the most important thing is to test just before the event of participation.”
Learn more about how omicron has changed the timing for COVID tests in this previous N&O report. And learn how to buy and use rapid at-home COVID-19 tests in this previous N&O report.
This story was originally published December 23, 2021 at 7:54 AM.