Health agency combining two COVID-19 testing sites

The DeKalb County Board of Health is consolidating two of its existing COVID-19 testing sites into a new single location with expanded hours.

Officials said thatsites atGreenforest Community Baptist Church in Decatur and Salem Bible Church in Stonecrest would end after Tuesday’s testing is complete. The new site, a former Sam’s Club at 2994 Turner Hill Road in Stonecrest, will open today.

The “expanded regional site” will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

“Transitioning to our original geographically based testing site concept not only allows us to process higher client volumes at a larger site, but also allows us to ultimately to resume clinical operations at the health centers that temporarily closed at the onset of the pandemic,” Dr. Elizabeth Ford, DeKalb’s district health director, said in a news release.

The health department closed another site at Beulah Missionary Baptist Church last month, citing a “low volume” of demand. The latest move will leave the department — which has maintained a half-dozen or more testing locations during various periods of the pandemic — with just three testing sites.

The other remaining sites are in Doraville (former K-Mart store at 5597 Buford Highway NE) and Atlanta (Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church, 1879Glenwood Ave. SE).

Those sites are open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Testing at health department locations is free and open to anyone. Pre-registration is strongly encouraged and can be completed by visiting dekalbhealth.net or calling 404-294-3700, Option 1.

The new DeKalb site, at a former Sam’s Club at 2994 Turner Hill Road in Stonecrest, will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.