CVS adds 23 COVID-19 drive-thru Ga. test sites

Each will offer people self-swab tests if they meet CDC criteria.

CVS Health will double the number of drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites in Georgia, which will fulfill the company’s promise to open 1,000 testing locations across the nation by the end of May, officials said Thursday.

The new testing sites will open today at 23 CVS pharmacies, joining the 23 drive-thru locations already operational across the state, according to a news release. Pharmacies in Atlanta, Alpharetta, Brookhaven, Jonesboro, Lawrenceville and McDonough are all slated to get the new drivethru testing options.

Each site will offer self-swab tests to people who meet Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria, the release said. Patients must also register in advance at CVS.com to schedule an appointment.

While at the sites, patients will be required to stay in their cars and will make their way to the pharmacy drive-thru window. They will then be provided a test kit and given specific instruction on the self-swab process.

Tests will be sent to a third-party lab for processing. Results will be available about three days later.

Across all test sites, CVS expects to be able to process up to 1.5 million tests per month as long as supplies and lab capacity remain available, the release said.

“Opening access to testing to more locations using our drive-thru window represents an important milestone in our response to the pandemic,” Larry J. Merlo, president and CEO of CVS Health, said in the release. “We remain grateful for the daily efforts and sacrifices of our frontline colleagues who make the continued expansion of our testing possible.”

More than half of the company’s 1,000 test sites are in communities in the greatest need of support, as measured by the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index. This includes impoverished areas, those with lack of access to transportation and spots with crowded housing.