(Sage Smiley / KSTK)
State-funded, walk-up COVID testing at the Wrangell Medical Center will end on January 31, but the hospital will still offer scheduled COVID testing between 9 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
SEARHC project manager Alicia Gillen says tests will still be available to patients with symptoms, people returning from travel or traveling soon, asymptomatic community members or close contacts – pretty much anyone who wants a test.
“We definitely want to continue to encourage people to test, especially if they are having symptoms or after exposure,” Gillen says.
But at the end of the month, the tests won’t be funded by the state any more.
“These are not necessarily free tests, they are billed to insurance,” Gillen explains. “Currently, if patients don’t have insurance, or maybe their insurance doesn’t cover the cost of the test, SEARHC is writing off that cost. That may change in the future due to COVID funds and what’s available, but right now, we can write off that cost.”
For the most part, testing will still happen at the trailer outside the medical center. But Gillen says when it’s especially cold, testing will move into the emergency room lobby.
“This week, since we’re anticipating this very cold weather, we have moved our screeners to right inside the Emergency Room doors, so they’re working out of there – the trailer just wasn’t staying heated well enough,” Gillen says. “People can pull up right before the main Emergency Room entrance, and our testers are going out and testing them while patients sit in their car. We may keep doing that, [it’s] just kind of weather-dependent.”
Anyone wishing to schedule a COVID test can contact the Wrangell Medical Center at 907-874-7000.
Unscheduled, walk-up testing for people without COVID symptoms will be available Mondays through Saturdays between 12:00 and 4:00 p.m. until the end of the month (January 31).
In addition to testing at the hospital, Wrangell also has free at-home rapid COVID test kits available at the Fire Department from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Contact Wrangell’s Emergency Operations Center to schedule pickup at 907-874-3223 or by email at travel@wrangell.com.
Get in touch with KSTK at news@kstk.org or (907) 874-2345.
