This from the Kokomo Tribune: PERU, IN – A free COVID-19 testing site is opening Wednesday inside the Peru National Guard Armory as part Gov. Eric Holcomb’s push to ramp up large-scale testing around the state.
Starting Wednesday, the armory located at 77 German St. will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to offer free testing to anyone who is symptomatic or has had close contact with confirmed COVID-19 positive patients. Tests are also available to those who must continue to work or have close contact with at-risk populations.
Tests are by appointment only, which can be made by registering at lhi.care/covidtesting. People will not be charged for testing and insurance is not required, but those with private health insurance are asked to bring that information with them.
The Peru testing site is one of 20 opening on Wednesday after the state contracted with OptumServe Health Services to offer the free service. Other site locations include Logansport, Elwood, Huntington, Muncie, Richmond, Terre Haute, South Bend and LaPorte.
An additional 30 testing sites will open in the next 14 days. Each site will be open for at least 8 hours per day, Monday through Friday.
Holcomb said 100,000 Hoosiers are expected to be tested in the first 30 days after the first 20 sites open. An estimated 4,400 more Hoosiers will be tested every day in the initial phase. Once all 50 sites are open, as many as 6,600 more Hoosiers can be tested per day.
OptumServe will collect the swabs specimens, and manage the testing and reporting of data. The company is providing its own supplies, protective gear, testing kits, staffing and labs to increase Indiana’s overall testing capacity.
People who get a free test will receive results within 48 hours on average. Results will be provided to the patient via a phone call if the test is positive or via an email or text if the test is negative.
The Indiana State Department of Health said it will continue to target focused testing and high-risk populations in its testing.
The opening of the free testing sites comes after Indiana’s number of confirmed or probable coronavirus-related deaths jumped to over 1,300 as state health officials added 62 fatalities on Tuesday.
The new state statistics show that at least 1,004 people died during April with COVID-19 infections — an average of nearly 33.5 people a day. That one-month death toll far exceeds Indiana’s average of about 150 flu deaths over a seven-month period in recent years.