60,000 Free COVID-19 Tests Available Through Sept. 18
The “Stop, Swab & Go” COVID-19 testing blitz resumes operation today at three drive-thru sites in the Las Vegas Valley. Registration is open at www.DoINeedaCOVID19Test.com. Testing also is being offered in Mesquite as part of the program.
During the first week of operation from Aug. 31-Sept. 4, 10,581 tests were conducted as part of the program. The Las Vegas Valley sites operate Monday through Friday, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. until Friday, Sept. 18. Locations are:
- Fiesta Henderson Hotel and Casino, 777 W. Lake Mead Pkwy. in Henderson, 89015
- Texas Station Hotel and Casino, 2101 Texas Star Lane in North Las Vegas, 89032
- Sam Boyd Stadium, 7000 E. Russell Road, 89122
- City of Mesquite Streets Division Garage, 725 Hardy Way, Mesquite, Nev., 89027. (Hours of operation are 7 a.m. to noon Sept. 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, 15 and 17.)
“We want to encourage as many people as possible to take advantage of this unique testing opportunity because it will help us reopen our community and our economy as fully as possible sooner rather than later,” said Clark County Commission Chairman Marilyn Kirkpatrick. “From the beginning, Clark County has taken this pandemic seriously and has worked tirelessly to protect public health and safety. The additional federal resources we are receiving for this event will help us identify where we are in our fight against the virus. It also will help us identify people who have the virus without knowing it and need to stay home to stop the spread of this disease. We need to work together as a community to manage the virus until a vaccine becomes available. Testing is an important tool in our fight against COVID-19 along with wearing face coverings in public places, washing hands regularly and following social distancing guidelines.”
Clark County, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the state of Nevada have partnered to make 60,000 tests available in our community over the course of 14 days to anyone who wants to be tested whether people have symptoms of the virus or not. Appointments are not required at any “Stop, Swab & Go” sites but are strongly encouraged. The tests are free, self-administered nasal swabs. No proof of health insurance is required.
Sites at Las Vegas Valley hotels in North Las Vegas and Henderson are operating in parking garages. The Sam Boyd site has a drive-thru site set up in its parking lot, and offers an additional walk-up testing area inside the stadium’s concourse. The Mesquite site is drive thru. The “Stop, Swab & Go” sites are operating this month in addition to the community-based testing sites. Since May, Clark County and community partners have conducted 181,209 tests as part of its community testing program. The number includes 29,999 tests at Cashman Center and 12,511 at the UNLV Thomas and Mack Center Strip Pavilion Room, as well as 22,820 tests at one and two-day strike team events conducted with the Southern Nevada Health District at various locations.
The Clark County Fire Department and the Nevada National Guard are providing logistical support for the “Stop, Swab & Go,” while the federal government is providing the test kits, sample collection staff, lab capacity, and registration services. Free face coverings are offered to individuals receiving testing at each location. Clark County and state officials requested the additional resources as part of a federal program initiated by the White House and Coronavirus Task Force to offer surge testing in COVID-19 hot spots across the country.
The registration website for the “Stop, Swab & Go” event, www.DoINeedaCOVID19Test.com, is managed by eTrueNorth, a HHS program contractor. Individuals must register to be tested by creating a username and password to schedule an appointment on the site. They will be prompted to print a voucher or take a screen shot of it with their cell phone camera to present upon arrival for their testing appointment. Results should be available within 3 to 5 business days after the date of specimen collection. Individuals will be notified by email when their test result is available. Results are only given via the website and individuals must log into the website to obtain their test results using the same username and password they created when scheduling their appointments. The telephone number to the eTrueNorth call center is (800) 635-8611. As the demand for COVID-19 testing is high so is call volume to the call center. Individuals who need help obtaining their test result can revist the website to learn their username or reset their password.
All test results, positive or negative, will be reported to the Southern Nevada Health District.Anyone notified of a positive test result is encouraged to follow-up with their primary care physician and to stay home and self-isolate to limit the spread of the virus.The Health District will follow up only with people who test positive for the virus as part of its local contact tracing and disease investigation efforts. Providing a current telephone number as part of the testing registration information for the “Stop, Swab & Go” event is critical to local health district contact tracing efforts.
COVID-19 symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath. People with general questions about COVID-19 can call the health district’s Information Phone Line at (702) 759-INFO (4636), between the hours of 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Anyone in need of social service support to self-isolate can contact Nevada 2-1-1 for resource referrals. Information about COVID-19 resources also is available in Spanish through the “Esta En Tus Manos” (It’s in your hands) outreach initiative at estaentusmanosnevada.com. The health district has a calendar of testing events in English and Spanish posted at www.SNHD.info/covid. The list includes the upcoming “Stop, Swab & Go” events.