By the fall of 2020, the health department had given more than 18,000 COVID-19 tests at 58 drive-up testing events in Kanawha County. The count covered the time since its pandemic response began in March 2020.
The program grew from small beginnings. The first drive-up event, at the Kanawha County Emergency Ambulance Authority in April 2020, tested 26 people. By July 1, 2020, the health department had held 24 events, and that day 568 people were tested at the Schoenbaum Center in Charleston.
In late September 2020, the health department and the West Virginia National Guard held a three-day testing push at George Washington High School in Charleston. On the first day, they tested 361 people and gave 141 flu shots. The county health officer said that early in the pandemic the health department once had only 10 tests to hand out, and that results now often came back the next day.
See also Twenty-six tested during drive-up COVID-19 testing event and 19 additional COVID-19 cases reported in Kanawha County Tuesday.
Sources
- WCHS-TV: COVID-19 testing has “come a long way” from start of pandemic in W.Va. (September 30, 2020)
- WCHS-TV: More than 500 tested for COVID-19 Wednesday at Schoenbaum Center; testing events added (July 2, 2020)
- City of Charleston: Twenty-six tested during drive-up COVID-19 testing event (April 21, 2020)
- WCHS Radio: report on 58 drive-up events and more than 18,000 tests (fall 2020), no longer online