Jefferson County residents who are experiencing COVID-19 coronavirus symptoms will have a testing site close by, beginning Thursday (March 26).
Mercy announced it would open three additional drive-thru testing sites in the St. Louis area, including one at the Hillsboro Community Civic Club, on the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 10349 Business 21.
That center is scheduled to open Thursday, Mercy reported.
Mercy community engagement manager John Winkelman said the site will be open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Winkelman said the site is opening in Hillsboro to reduce the number of possible sick patients going to the emergency room at Mercy Jefferson in Crystal City.
“We wanted to give them testing options somewhere off site,” he said.
Winkelman said the site will have five employees who have been specially trained.
He said the site will be able to see up to 50 patients a day with a new patient about every nine minutes.
The testing sites are only for patients who have met guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
For a patient to qualify for testing, he or she must have a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher, a cough or shortness of breath, and either recent travel to a high-risk area or contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient, Mercy reported in a written statement.
Anyone looking to be tested must call Mercy’s COVID-19 Clinical Support Line at 314-251-0550 before arriving, the report said.
One of the other two new sites will be near the Motorsports Arena and Mercy First Aid building at the Washington Fairgrounds, 6 Fairgrounds Road. It was scheduled to open Monday.
The other new site will be in the parking lot of the MetLife building at 13045 Tesson Ferry Road in south St. Louis County. It is scheduled to open Wednesday, Mercy reported.
Mercy’s first test collection site opened March 14 at the Mercy Virtual Care Center, 15740 S. Outer Forty Road, in Chesterfield. In the first six days at that site, Mercy collected samples from 441 patients and is now seeing about 120 patients per day, Mercy reported.
After a person seeking a COVID-19 test calls the Mercy’s COVID-19 Clinical Support Line to be screened, if appropriate, he or she will be given a time to arrive at the test collection site nearest them.
Mercy will collect a sample and send it to a designated lab, either the state health department or a private lab. Results may take a couple of days or up to a week, depending on the lab conducting the test.
There is a cost associated with the testing; however, most insurance companies, along with Medicare and Medicaid, have committed to covering the cost. No one will be turned away from the testing site due to cost, Mercy reported.
