A new COVID-19 testing site is opening Thursday in Niles. The Rite Aid on South 11th Street offers drive-through testing. The Rite Aid in Bridgman has also been a testing location for several weeks. Rite Aid Clinical Programs Manager Chris Altman tells WSJM News the test is done via self-nasal swab.
“A patient goes online through RiteAid.com to register for testing, and that whole process gets the patient’s information so that we have all the data we need to provide the lab,” Altman said. “Then they’ll go through the pharmacy drive through, same as they would if they were picking a prescription up. Within the drive through there, from the window, the pharmacist will coach the patient.”
Altman notes Rite Aid has 92 sites nationwide.
“We’re over 100,000 tests across our entire foot print. So we’re seeing most of our sites at a pretty high capacity. We have it set for 50 patients per day at our drive through tests, and we have a couple that are in really large metro markets where we have a higher capacity of 200.”
Rite Aid has worked with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to establish testing locations. Testing in Niles will be available Mondays through Fridays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on the weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. All adults 18 years of age or older, even if they are not exhibiting virus symptoms, are eligible
