Cleveland Clinic in Ohio and University Hospitals have added a second location for drive-through COVID-19 testing for patients with a doctor’s order.
Patients can stay in their cars while samples are taken with nasal and throat swabs.
People with symptoms are instructed to start with an online visit to Cleveland Clinic’s Express Care Online or call their primary care physician.
The Cleveland Clinic says it has tested more than 600 people on Monday.
The Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals opened their first testing location on Saturday. So far they have tested 800 patients, with 26 testing positive who are then treated at the clinic.
Brian Rubin, head of the clinic's pathology medicine, said the group is following CDC's (Centers for Disease Control) guidelines.
Rubin told Reuters news agency that local testing is very important because the specimens don't need to be transported and the results can be obtained rapidly. But he added that the role of big laboratories is also important because they can test a large number of people.
Rubin warns the public this is not a short-term health problem. "If I had to guess right now, I would say we're in for at least a three month haul to deal with this virus before we really understand it and are able to cope with it in a more reasonable way," he said.
