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The Department of Public Health plans to hold a free COVID-19 testing event every Wednesday at Forsyth Central High School for those in the county who would like to get tested.
District 2 Public Health covers 13 counties in the state including Forsyth County, and in their effort to meet COVID-19 testing needs throughout the district, the department started a testing event this past Wednesday, May 27, which will last from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. each week.
District spokesperson Dave Palmer said that, during the event this past Wednesday, May 27, the district and the Forsyth County Emergency Management Agency worked together to usher in and test nearly 180 residents at Forsyth Central.
EMA Director Chris Grimes said that their Community Emergency Response team volunteered to help set up the event, helping to direct traffic and get people through the testing as quickly as they could. After collecting some basic information and administering the test, Grimes said the process for each person only took a few minutes. During the testing, no one has to get out of their car at any time.
Many leaving the testing site also enjoyed a free voucher donated by the Chick-Fil-A at Lanier Crossing.
“We do that at some of our sites,” Palmer said. “Someone will say, ‘we’ll give anyone who comes through a voucher to come to our store,’ and it’s kind of an incentive. We’re happy to partner with anyone who wants to do something like that.”
Palmer said that they plan to continue with testing at Forsyth Central.
“We are going to do it for a while until there’s not a need,” Palmer said.
Grimes said that they are looking at and determining if the need is there in the county on a week-by-week basis.
District 2 Public Health has also opened testing sites in Hall, Franklin, Towns and Habersham counties. For more information on testing locations, visit phdistrict2.org.