Covid Test CVS: We’ve done more than 29 million tests since opening our first pilot drive-up test site in the parking lot of a CVS Pharmacy® store in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, in mid-March 2020.
Covid Test CVS: Return ReadyTM is a system that aids in reopening workplaces and university campuses
Many businesses were forced to change or temporarily halt their operations during the peak of the epidemic due to shelter-in-place orders, and many institutions shut down their campuses, sending students home. These companies now need a comprehensive strategy to help their employees and students return to their workplaces and campuses, and CVS Health can help with that through our adaptable Return Ready solution, which includes:
• Customized COVID-19 testing strategy allows employers to determine who, how, and where to test employees or students by combining onsite quick testing and drive-thru testing at CVS Pharmacy locations.
• Protocols and guidance for symptom checking and temperature screenings that have been developed in consultation with clinicians;
• COVID-19 testing and assistance by qualified specialists onsite;
• Turnkey communication toolkits for employees and students;
• Online facilities for arranging tests and exchanging findings;
• Reporting and analytics that are integrated across numerous testing locations;
• An onsite immunization clinic offering CDC-recommended vaccinations, such as the seasonal flu vaccine; and
• Thermal scanners, digital symptom monitoring, and contact tracing technology are among the add-on solutions available.
COVID-19 testing is available at a limited number of CVS Pharmacy locations
By bringing safe and effective testing choices closer to home and helping to promote access to testing options for even more people, our CVS Pharmacy and MinuteClinic® facilities are uniquely positioned to help address the epidemic and protect people’s health.
• We’ve set up over 4,800 test sites across 45 states and the District of Columbia, with approximately 1,000 of them offering rapid-result testing. Find a location that is convenient for you.
• Free of charge to both persons with and without health insurance.
• Individuals who meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) standards, as well as state-specific criteria and age guidelines, are eligible for testing. It is not necessary to have a doctor’s reference.
• To book a test appointment, patients must first register on CVS.com. When making an appointment online, the site will let you know if your chosen location is a rapid-result or drive-thru testing centre.
Drive-thru testing is a method of determining whether or not a product
• Patients must stay in their cars and do their test at the CVS Pharmacy drive-thru window when they arrive for their appointment.
• A local MinuteClinic practitioner oversees the testing, and CVS Pharmacy staff members supervise the collection of specimens at the drive-thru window.
• Specimens are forwarded to third-party laboratories for processing. Test results are normally available in 2-3 days, but may take longer due to the current COVID-19 outbreak.
• Visit CVS.com’s COVID-19 testing website for more information and to read commonly asked questions regarding the COVID-19 testing process.
Rapid-result testing is a type of testing that produces a quick result
• At a rapid-result testing location, patients should follow the notice or directions of the staff. Patients may be directed to stay in their cars and drive to a designated testing structure in the parking lot, or, in certain cases, to enter a CVS shop through a doorway built for this purpose.
• Patients will be given a test kit and instructions, and a member of the CVS Health team will monitor the self-swab process.
• Patients will be instructed to wait for their results in their own vehicle. The entire procedure will take about 30 minutes, from the time the swab is collected to when the findings are delivered.
• Visit CVS.com’s COVID-19 testing website for more information and to read commonly asked questions regarding the COVID-19 testing process.
For underserved communities, community-based testing is available
COVID-19 has had a disproportionately negative impact on people who live in traditionally underserved areas, necessitating more accessible and convenient testing options. While more than half of the drive-thru test sites we developed at chosen CVS Pharmacy locations serve counties with communities that have demonstrated need for assistance, as determined by the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, we wanted to do even more.
• To expand community-based testing in underserved regions, we teamed with national organizations such as the National Medical Association; local community groups, such as free and charitable clinics and community colleges; state governments, and the US Department of Health and Human Services. Locate a testing location near you.
• Test sites are located at partner organizations’ facilities, allowing us to tap into their networks to expand testing in regions where it is most needed and reach people who might not otherwise have easy access to testing.
• The testing process is staffed by licenced health care providers from MinuteClinic, CVS Health’s retail medical clinic, who CVS Pharmacy colleagues assist.
• These community-based testing venues are intended to help local residents overcome obstacles to testing, such as:
• Appointments are made over the phone, so internet connectivity is not an issue.
• Walk-up testing is available at all locations, so a vehicle is not required.
Both English and Spanish signage is available.
• Patients are eligible for free testing.
Long-term care facilities (LTC) are being tested
We acknowledge the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing homes and assisted living institutions, as residents of these facilities are among the virus’s most vulnerable patient populations. We are committed to being a part of the solution. Omnicare, a CVS Health company, is committed to serving this vulnerable patient group as a pioneer in the long-term care sector by providing safe and effective testing choices for residents and employees at these facilities. It’s an important part of Omnicare’s overall reaction to the pandemic.
• Omnicare is collaborating with some states, including North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas, to provide COVID-19 testing at long-term care facilities around the country.
• Omnicare, for example, is working with the state of Texas to provide same-day testing and results for both facility personnel and residents, with a target of administering 100,000 tests over the next month.
• The testing is overseen by Omnicare clinical team members and CVS Pharmacy team members who are onsite at the LTC facility to collect samples and present results to residents and staff on the same day.
• These partnerships assist enhance access to testing in nursing homes across the state, particularly in areas that the pandemic has severely afflicted.
• We’re still looking into more state-specific solutions to meet the LTC industry’s unique COVID-19 testing requirements.
COVID-19 fast test sites on a large scale
CVS Health began taking a leadership role in addressing the demand for enhanced and simple access to COVID-19 testing across the United States in March 2020. In the parking lot of a CVS Pharmacy in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, we quickly put up a pilot drive-thru rapid COVID-19 test site. This pilot allowed us to understand how to maximize productivity and safety at a drive-thru location, allowing us to scale up and launch large-scale rapid test locations quickly.
• In April, CVS Health opened five large-scale COVID-19 drive-through test centres in Connecticut, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Rhode Island.
• The locations were chosen in collaboration with local state officials as easily accessible areas that could accommodate numerous lanes of traffic at the same time.
• Each location could do between 500 and 1,000 tests each day.
• From the time the sample was collected to when the results were delivered to the patient onsite, the process took about 30 minutes.
• MinuteClinic licenced health care providers oversaw the testing, with CVS pharmacists assisting.
• We stopped operations at these five large-scale facilities at the end of June 2020, as we considerably enhanced our testing capacity through an efficient and accessible network of store-based drive-thru sites.
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