COVID-19

Coronavirus Updates: Mass Rapid Testing Now Available — For Those Eligible

April 6th, 2020

A line of cars gather to enter a COVID-19 testing site on Georgia Tech’s campus, Monday in Atlanta.

Brynn Anderson / Associated Press

Updated Monday at 8:59 p.m.

Georgians can now get fast coronavirus tests through CVS Health. However, it won’t be at your local CVS.

Rapid COVID-19 testing is available from the comfort of your car at CVS Health’s drive-thru at The Georgia Institute of Technology’s parking deck, 352 Peachtree Place, Atlanta, according to a press release from the governor’s office.

This offering was made possible by a public-private partnership between CVS Health and the State of Georgia.

The site can perform up to 1,000 tests in a day. Tests are free to patients, and results come back in only about 30 minutes, as stated CVS’s COVID-19 testing webpage.

Georgia has seen nearly 300 deaths in the state, and more than 1,200 have been hospitalized. Total infections confirmed in the state exceed 7,500.

Testing is available for those who are eligible after being pre-screened online. Some of the questions on the assessment are if you have been referred by a medical professional and if you have symptoms, such as a cough.

Walk-ups and those who don’t have an appointment will not be tested, according to the release.

The operation spans multiple lanes in the parking deck, and is open Monday through Sunday, with varying hours, as stated in the press release.

Currently, CVS offers coronavirus testing in only Georgia and Rhode Island, according to its website.

Experts: Stay Home, And Wear Masks In Public Spaces

Experts say for most people, as the pandemic persists, the important thing is still to stay home and to wear cloth masks in public places.

Cloth masks help protect other people, especially since it’s possible to have the virus, but not have any symptoms, said Marybeth Sexton, an infectious disease physician at Emory.

“If you’re wearing one, it makes sure that you don’t cough, sneeze, breathe or speak out some of these infectious viral particles,” she said. “So you wearing one keeps other people safe, and if everyone wears one, that protects you too.”

Sexton said that while the new coronavirus spreads through particles in the air, it doesn’t appear to be “truly” airborne.

“Viruses that are truly airborne move in much smaller particles that can suspend in the air for a much longer period of time,” she said. “So from what we know now, COVID does not normally suspend in the air like that, outside of a handful of procedures that we do in the hospital.”

She said medical masks should be left for healthcare workers who need them.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has instructions on its website for homemade cloth masks.

Georgia Shelter-In-Place Is Set Soon Expire

Georgians have been under a statewide shelter in place order for more than two days, but it’s set to expire in just a week.

Gov. Brian Kemp’s executive order lasts through April 13. That’s because that’s when the state of public health emergency expires, and he doesn’t have the ability to issue a shelter-in-place order without those emergency powers.

Kemp got legislative approval for the state of emergency three weeks ago, and he needs the General Assembly’s approval again to renew it. That is, unless the legislature isn’t able to reconvene at the Capitol for safety reasons.

Then Kemp will be able to renew it unilaterally. And renew the shelter-in-place order, too.