A free COVID-19 testing site will return to Centre County in January, though it may be at a different location than it had been from late October through the end of last week.
The Centre County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved a $316,025.42 contract with AMI Expeditionary Health Care to operate the walk-in testing clinic from Jan. 5-30. Hours of operation will remain the same as they have been: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
The testing site is being funded through money set aside from the county’s $14.7 million CARES Act block grant.
‘I do think that this period of testing will be crucial as we will have individuals that will potentially travel after Christmas or even celebrate New Year’s and we would want to have testing in place past that,’ Board of Commissioners Chair Michael Pipe said.
The clinic had been in place for seven weeks — after multiple extensions approved by the commissioners — until Saturday at the former Bon-Ton location in the Nittany Mall. AMI was not available to operate the site this week or next because of a change in labs. AMI previously operated the site for about a week and half in late September and early October as a drive-up clinic under a contract with the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
County Administrator Margaret Gray said on Tuesday it is not yet known if the mall location will be available for the clinic in January.
‘We are waiting to hear about the availability of the Nittany Mall,’ she said. ‘It may be that we need to change locations. AMI is aware of that as well. I just want to be very clear that there is no commitment yet from the Nittany Mall for our ability to stay at that location. If it turns out that we are not able to stay there we will identify quickly another location.
Gray said the county already has begun compiling a list of alternate sites if the mall is not available.
‘We’ll try to keep it as central to the county as possible so that it’s accessible to our residents from all over the county,’ Gray said.
The contract with AMI is for up to 300 tests per day, though Gray said no one is turned away if that number is surpassed. The contract also will be prorated if at the end of January the site had fewer than 300 tests per day.
For the last seven weeks, the county had paid about $78,000 per week. The contract for January is about $79,000 per week.
‘I did talk extensively with the AMI folks and they do have supply and demand issues currently made worse or better, perhaps on your perspective, because they now they are also providing vaccine distribution and the number of health care workers available to do that… it’s harder to get people,’ she said.
Commissioner Mark Higgins said that he has found AMI’s rates are more cost-effective than other companies he researched and that he believes the testing will continue to be a valuable service to the community.
‘It’s still needed out there. There are substantial numbers of new COVID infections, even in Centre County, every single day,’ he said. ‘I’m hoping we may be able to get some slight reimbursements from the state or the feds for this, but regardless it appears to be one of the best things we can for our citizens.’
Testing is available to anyone of any age and no appointment is needed. Photo ID is required. Individuals with insurance will be asked to provide an insurance card, but no co-pay or any other cost is charged. Those without insurance also are tested free of charge.
‘As individuals, to be tested you’re looking at probably $150 to $200 for that to occur if you don’t have some sort of insurance coverage in that regard,’ Commissioner Steve Dershem said. ‘One of the other things about this is you don’t need a reason to be tested. Oftentimes insurance will require that you exhibit some sort of symptom. In our situation, if you have a family member who may have been exposed this is a very good early detection process for somebody to go through with no questions asked. Plus an individual may not have insurance and $150 out of pocket is a lot of money.’
