While coronavirus case counts, hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise, Clark County experienced two positive developments in the fight against COVID-19 this week.
PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center administered the county’s first vaccinations Wednesday. The other development, which will likely arrive not long after 2021 begins, is that Clark County will finally have no-barrier drive-thru and walk-up COVID-19 testing.
The new testing site is expected to become operational in early January. At the Clark County Board of Health meeting Tuesday, Clark County Public Health Officer Dr. Alan Melnick mentioned the site could be at the former Tower Mall in Vancouver, but the details are still being worked out.
Melnick said the site should have the capacity to test 500 to 1,500 people per day. The intention is that testing will be free, Melnick said, but those details also still need to be worked out.
The site would likely be open multiple days per week for several weeks, Melnick said.
“This is exactly what I’ve been trying to advocate for,” said Clark County Councilor Gary Medvigy, who has been pushing for more local testing for months.
Coronavirus testing has encountered issues locally and across the U.S. Initially, there were supply chain problems when it came to the swabs and the viral transport media needed to conduct tests.
Supply shortages early in the pandemic led to restrictions on who could be tested and who could not be tested, which harmed the country’s ability to detect and track the virus during its initial spread.
Melnick said Clark County is under-testing currently, and that the county wants to increase access.
According to Public Health data, Clark County averaged about 6,700 tests per week in November, which is an increase over previous months. Weekly test positivity had a low of 12.28 percent and a high of 15.72 percent in November.
There are particular concerns about testing for people without health insurance, and those living on lower incomes. Melnick said the testing site will likely be easily accessible by bus.
“We’re looking forward to getting that going,” he said.
