GRAND FORKS — Grand Forks Public Health's community COVID-19 testing site located at UND’s Fritz Pollard Jr. Athletic Center will close on Friday, March 10.
In a press release, Marcus Lee, emergency preparedness & response coordinator, said now is the "ideal" time to close the site.
“In efforts to align with state-wide testing sites closing, funding, demand and access to testing, now is an ideal time to phase out the community COVID-19 testing site in Grand Forks," Lee said. "COVID-19 testing remains accessible through home test kits that are distributed at no cost in multiple locations throughout Grand Forks County, as well as testing at local health care providers and pharmacies.”
Lee also expressed gratitude for the support the testing site received over the three years it was operating.
“We are grateful to the community for the partnerships, staff and support for the past three years to make COVID testing in our community a success and key component in the COVID response,” Lee said.
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GFPH's Tiffany Boespflug said the closure of the site is in sync with other COVID-19 testing site closures in the state. While physical testing sites are closing, Boespflug said people can still get tested for COVID-19 at their health care clinics.
The demand for the testing site has also gone down. Currently GFPH is seeing an average of 20 to 25 PCR tests and five to 10 Rapid Antigen tests a day. Monday is generally the busiest day of the week, with around 40-50 tests
"The utilization really isn't needed to the capacity we needed before," Boespflug, health promotion team leader, said. "And then we're not seeing as many numbers. We were just kind of wanting to keep it open during the respiratory illness season in case there was any surges in increased COVID numbers."
As the demand for the testing site has diminished, Boespflug said there has been an increase in the number of people getting at-home testing kits at the distribution sites.
Additionally, funding for the testing sites has decreased. The community testing site is funded with FEMA COVID-19 dollars.
GFPH is continuing to encourage COVID-19 testing when recommended, such as when someone has symptoms or if they were exposed to someone with COVID-19. To find an at-home COVID-19 testing distribution site in Grand Forks County, go to www.grandforksgov.com/hometest.
GFPH is also recommending people stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations, including the updated (bivalent) booster when they are due. To get a free COVID-19 shot, contact GFPH to schedule an appointment, 701.787.8100.
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