The Pennsylvania Department of Health’s free COVID-19 testing site in Centre County is now offering additional forms of testing.
Beginning Thursday, the clinic operated by AMI Expeditionary Healthcare at 219 S. Water St. in Bellefonte is offering point of care tests performed and analyzed on-site and the distribution of at-home COVID-19 antigen tests, in addition to continuing mid-nasal passage swab PCR testing.
“Testing is the best way to identify the virus and know what steps to take in order to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” Department of Health Acting Secretary and Physician General Dr. Denise Johnson said in a news release. “We continue to work with partners across the state ensuring the consistent accessibility of COVID-19 testing.”
The additional forms of testing are being offered at all seven of DOH’s community-based COVID-19 testing clinics, which also include sites in Berks, Blair, Clarion, Clinton, Erie and Washington counties.
Centre County’s testing site is open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Free testing is available to anyone age 2 on a first-come, first-serve basis and individuals do not need to be experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to be tested. PCR tests are available only to ages 3 and older.
Individuals are encouraged to bring photo identification, but it is not required to be tested.
Those who test positive through a PCR test will receive a phone call from AMI while those who test negative will receive a secured-PDF emailed from AMI. Individuals who receive an antigen point-of care test will receive results on site verbally and may request a copy of their results in writing.
“If you do test positive for COVID-19, there are available medicines now authorized for most patients,” Johnson said. “Most treatment options must start within five days of initially feeling sick, so be sure to contact your healthcare provider immediately to see if any outpatient treatment options are right for you – even if your symptoms are mild.”
AMI has conducted free testing in Centre County since the fall of 2020 through contracts with DOH and the county at various locations. DOH has continuously sponsored the clinic since April 2021. The testing site has been at various locations and has been in the former Subway building in Bellefonte since April.
Centre County has been at the Centers for Disease Control’s low community level for COVID-19 for the past four weeks, with the next update scheduled for Thursday night. Community levels, which are used to determine mitigation guidelines such as masking, measure a county’s new COVID-19 cases, hospital admissions and percent of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 inpatients over a seven-day period.
The county and most of Pennsylvania, however, are at the highest level for community transmission of COVID-19, a measure provided for health care facility use which accounts for new cases and positivity rates to determine overall prevalence.
