Anchorage expands hours at free COVID-19 testing sites and adds 2 new locations

The Municipality of Anchorage is expanding the hours and locations of its free drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites.

Beginning Friday, six community testing sites located in Anchorage and Eagle River will now be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to Bill Falsey, incident commander for the municipality’s Emergency Operations Center.

The two most-used sites — at the ChangePoint Center and the Loussac Library — will now be open four days a week instead of three: Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

Two new sites are now open as well: one in Eagle River, and another at the Alaska Geological Materials Center in Anchorage.

Testing specifically for grocery store workers is also available Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Muldoon Community Assembly site, and restaurant and bar workers can test every Wednesday at the Fairview Community Recreation Center.

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services currently recommends that anyone experiencing even mild symptoms of COVID-19 get tested as soon as possible.

These symptoms include: fever, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chills, decreased appetite, diminished sense of taste or smell, diarrhea, fatigue, headache, muscle/joint aches, nausea, rash, rigors, runny nose, sore throat or sputum production.

Since the start of the pandemic, public health officials have said that testing is extremely important because it leads to quicker identification of cases, and knowledge of who needs to isolate or quarantine to prevent further spread.

The availability and locations of the municipal testing sites are as follows:

• Alaska Geological Materials Center, 3651 Penland Parkway in Anchorage (open Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays)

• ChangePoint Center, 6689 Changepoint Drive in Anchorage (open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays)

• Loussac Library, 3600 Denali St. in Anchorage (open Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays)

• Muldoon Community Assembly, 7041 DeBarr Road in Anchorage (open Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays for the general public, with grocery store workers invited on Tuesdays and Thursdays)

• 11801 Business Park Blvd. in Eagle River; this site is located in a parking lot across from the bus transit center (open Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays)

• Fairview Community Rec Center, 1121 E. 10th Ave. in Anchorage (open Wednesdays, with restaurant and bar workers invited to test at that time)

The community sites, which are run by a company called Visit Healthcare, provide testing for free and do not require a referral from a provider. The goal of these sites is to reach portions of the community that have historically had the least access to health care services, Falsey said.

Five of the sites were first opened in late July during a spike in daily coronavirus case counts in Anchorage, which have gradually declined in recent weeks.

“We’ve been very happy to have been able to push out a very high volume of COVID testing into the community,” Falsey said at a community briefing. “We’re going to improve on that starting today,” he said.

Pre-registration is encouraged but not required. Alaskans can go to visit-healthcare.com to sign up before they go, which will make the process quicker, Falsey said.

In addition to these sites, testing continues to remain available at a free drive-thru site at 4115 Lake Otis Parkway operated by Providence Health & Services Alaska.

Testing there is available 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. No referral from a physician is required.

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