More COVID-19 testing sites and expanded hours coming to Anchorage

Options for Anchorage residents to get a COVID-19 test are continuing to expand and increase this month, including two new sites slated to open in the coming days.

One site, at Lake Otis Parkway and East 42nd Avenue, might strike some as familiar since it was a testing site in the past and is opening again this week, said Jyll Green. Green is the director of medical at Fairweather LLC, which partnered with Beechtree Molecular Lab to staff the site.

“I feel like we’re back to our roots,” Green said of the location. “And it was just a convenient location for a lot of people, so we’re excited to have that open again.”

Testing at the site is free regardless of insurance status, and people can scan a QR code to register upon arrival.

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Beechtree and Fairweather are planning to open another site Monday outside the Dimond Center, according to Green. That location will be located near the bus transit center, by the southwest corner of the mall.

Both sites will conduct PCR testing and will be drive-thru, Green said. The sites will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

In late 2021, Anchorage health officials moved to privatize testing in the city after a contract with the municipality’s testing provider expired. Private companies are now filling that space without contracting with the municipality, meaning that the city doesn’t control the sites or bear responsibility for the cost of testing.

More changes are underway at some of Anchorage’s existing test locations.

A site operated by Capstone Clinic at 301 Calista Court in Midtown is reopening Friday at a new location at 100 W. 104th Ave., adjacent to Cabela’s in South Anchorage, said Matthew Jones, general manager of outside operations at Capstone.

The drive-thru site will conduct both TMA and rapid testing, he said, and there will be a large tent that can accommodate several cars.

Hours at a Midtown testing site are slated to expand Monday. The former Golden Lion Hotel testing site, which is currently operated by WEKA, will run testing from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily starting next week, according to WEKA operations supervisor David Horne.

Looking ahead, local testing provider Beacon OHSS is finalizing plans for two additional sites set to open by Feb. 3, according to Beacon CEO Amanda Johnson.

Information about COVID-19 testing locations around Anchorage is available at anchoragecovidtest.org.