A healthcare worker gets ready to administer a COVID-19 test.
Two mobile COVID-19 testing sites will come to Denham Springs on separate days this week, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.
One site will visit the L.M. Lockhart Center, located at 320 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, from 8-11 a.m. Wednesday, July 8.
The second site will visit the Denham Springs-Walker Library, located at 8101 Hwy. 190, from 8-11 a.m. on Thursday, July 9.
There will be no cost to receive a test at either of the two sites, according to the Department of Health. To receive a test, a person must be at least 18 years of age and bring a photo ID. A person does not need to be symptomatic to receive a test either day, health officials said.
The new sites are an effort to pinpoint community hotspots of the novel coronavirus, which has seen a resurgence in Louisiana over the last three weeks and forced Gov. John Bel Edwards to keep the state under Phase Two of its reopening plan.
On Tuesday, health officials reported around 2,000 new cases — the second time in less than a week there were that many in a single day — to bring the total case count to 68,263.
The surge in new cases is particularly true in Livingston Parish, which has confirmed 576 new cases off of 4,345 tests (13.2 positivity rate) since June 23. That includes 86 on Tuesday, the most in a single-day to date.
With the number of places providing COVID-19 tests increasing each week, people are having to wait longer for their results, according to the Department of Health. Currently, some commercial labs that process tests can take up to two weeks to report those results back to the patient.
The Department of Health does not get any test results, and officials recommend that patients who get tested ask staff at the testing site when to expect results and where to call to get those results.
“We recommend everyone ask for a phone number to call if you haven’t received your results within the timeframe you were given,” the Department of Health says.
