Submitted by Providence
As community spread of COVID-19 increases, the Providence/Thurston County COVID-19 drive through testing site, located at Providence Medical Group Hawks Prairie, is feeling the impacts. The past two weeks have been especially busy with, at times, more than 200 cars waiting, resulting in 3-4 hour wait.
“We want community members to utilize the testing site if they are feeling symptomatic or have a COVID-19 exposure,” said Dr. Eve Cunningham, chief medical officer for Providence Medical Group Southwest Washington. “In order to better serve our community, we are working to transition our Providence St. Peter Hospital pre-procedural patients to be tested in the SW Providence Medical Group immediate care clinics. This will enable two testing lanes and more capacity for symptomatic patients at the drive through testing site. We hope to make this transition by Nov. 23.”
Pre-operative and procedural patients will now be scheduled at one of the three Providence Medical Group clinics in West Olympia, Lacey or Hawks Prairie or in Lewis County at Providence Medical Group – Centralia General Surgery. Patients will come into the clinic for their COVID-19 test. Insurance will be billed for the cost of the visit and the laboratory work. If you are a patient, scheduled for a pre-procedural COVID-19 test and have a question about the process, please first call your surgeon’s office. If your question cannot be answered by your surgeon’s office call our Providence preoperative line at: 360-486-6303, this line is for preoperative or procedural questions only. For all other COVID-19 related questions, call: 1-855-776-4362.
For community members experiencing symptoms or exposure to COVID-19, the drive through testing site, a partnership between Providence and Thurston County Public Health and Social Services Department, will continue to offer COVID-19 sample collection. The tests are processed by LabCorp and it takes an average of 2 days for a patient to receive results. As COVID-19 levels continue to surge, lab capacity may be impacted, thus resulting in longer wait times for results.
Current drive-through hours of operation: Weekdays 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Additional testing options:
- If you need to get tested for COVID-19 because you are experiencing symptoms or public health has instructed you to get tested and you have insurance, please contact your primary care provider for testing.
- Additional community testing locations can be found here.
