Drive-through testing site to continue operations
The drive-through COVID-19 testing site at 4115 Lake Otis Parkway will continue operations beyond June 12, 2020. The Municipality of Anchorage, Providence Health & Services Alaska and the State of Alaska have identified alternate funding and staffing to sustain the site for the benefit of the community.
The testing site, near the intersection of Lake Otis and East 42nd Avenue, opened in mid-March as a multi-hospital partnership to prepare for a surge in suspected cases and if greater testing capacity was needed. At that time, no community-based testing was available in Anchorage.
Now, with more surgeries and procedures now available, hospital staff supporting the testing site have returned to care for patients in their respective facilities. Additionally, testing is more accessible and increasing within the community.
However, the site has proved critically important to limiting the spread of COVID-19 in Alaska. During the past 12 weeks, we provided more than 8,400 COVID-19 tests to the Anchorage community.
The Municipality of Anchorage will support the site financially. Providence, which owns the site, will continue providing the physical infrastructure and will contract with Fairweather LLC for staffing. The State of Alaska will provide testing logistics, such as supplies and processing.
The process for obtaining tests will be transitioning and more information will be provided in the coming week. Until then, the process remains the same. People still must have a referral before being tested. Referrals can be obtained during a live, phone or a virtual appointment with a clinician. Testing involves collecting a swab from the nose or mouth, which is then sent to a lab for testing. People are contacted by their ordering provider with results as soon as they are available.
For information on additional testing sites, the Alaska Department of Health & Social Services maintains a testing sites locator on its COVID-19 site. Pre-procedure testing remains available at Providence testing sites in Anchorage, Kodiak, Seward and Valdez.