BURLINGTON — People in and around Burlington now have access to free Covid testing every day of the week.
A new, on-demand Covid testing site opened its doors Monday at Burlington City Arts on Pine Street. The site is one of more than a dozen long-term testing facilities that the state has opened in recent weeks to provide a clearer picture of virus spread and to give worried people a way to find out if they’re infected, or in the clear.
The Burlington location will be open from noon to 8 p.m. weekdays and weekends until at least the end of this month. Appointments for free-of-charge testing can be made through the Vermont Department of Health website, though the site also has capacity for a limited number of walk-ins.
There is a “significant chance,” Mayor Miro Weinberger said Tuesday, that the test site will remain open into the new year. “We think this is a critical, foundational testing facility for this season that we’re in now.”
The facility will be able to test more than 250 people per day, a substantial increase from the city’s previous testing capacity. Up to this point, Burlington has offered testing largely through pop-up sites, and Weinberger called the new facility a “significant upgrade.”
“The goal of this site is to expand testing, and provide a consistent resource that people can plan around,” he said. He also said the city has plans for other, supplemental testing.
Anyone who has recently gathered with people from another household, against state recommendations, should consider getting tested “now, and seven days after your gathering,” Weinberger said.
At the governor’s press conference Tuesday, Mike Smith, secretary of the Agency of Human Services, said the state reached its goal of opening 14 on-demand test sites by the end of November.
Burlington’s site was one of those. Others have opened across the state, in Barre, Bennington, Berlin, Brattleboro, Fairlee, Middlebury, Morrisville, Newport, Northfield, Rutland, St. Johnsbury, Springfield, Stratton, Waterbury and White River Junction.
“Providing local, easy, accessible testing to Vermonters is crucial to our success, and keeping Vermonters healthy and safe,” Smith said. The state is also “keeping the flexibility of pop-ups to respond to specific outbreaks and other needs.”
With the new sites, about two-thirds of Vermonters now have an on-demand testing facility within a 30-minute drive, the state says, and Vermont has the capacity to conduct about 30,000 tests a week.
The state has contracted a Massachusetts-based company, CIC Health, to provide the on-demand sites. In Burlington, the site is being staffed by Garnet Health, which also runs the test center at Burlington International Airport.
The site is conducting PCR testing, and expects to provide results within 36 to 48 hours.
“We are in a high-risk period in this pandemic,” Weinberger said. To contain the virus, he said, the expanded testing is “essential.”
