The coronavirus, which causes the disease known as COVID-19. (Courtesy Center for Disease Control)
This Thursday and Friday, anyone eligible to receive a COVID-19 test can do so for free at a drive-through testing location on the CU Boulder campus.
Testing will be held at the CU Boulder Space Sciences Building at 3665 Discovery Drive in Boulder from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Registration is required and can be done through Kroger Health’s website here or by calling 1-888-852-2567.
CU Boulder said it is providing the space, which is estimated to handle 250 vehicles per day, as part of an ongoing partnership between King Soopers and the Colorado Emergency Operations Center.
“We are grateful to King Soopers and the Colorado State Emergency Operations Center for making the free testing available in our community,” said CU Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano in a press release. “We are pleased we can host the drive-through testing on our campus for the community at large.”
According to King Soopers spokesperson Jessica Trowbridge, tests are ordered and observed by King Soopers Health and Wellness professionals with laboratory services provided by eTrueNorth, a contractor of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The grocery chain had already helped set up a free testing site in Denver on the Auraria campus. That site ended its testing Wednesday at 4 p.m.
“We greatly appreciate the collaboration and partnership with the state as we work together to not only offer and administer testing, but to build the infrastructure and support necessary to establish each site,” Trowbridge said in an email.
Those seeking a test will use a virtual screening tool based on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to see if they are eligible. People are asked to have a photo ID ready when they arrive and to leave their window rolled
until a health care practitioner comes to the car to administer the test.
Patients will remain in the car for the entirety of the testing process, which only takes a few minutes and consists of a self-administered nasal swab. Test results are expected within approximately 48 hours.
CU Boulder spokesperson Melanie Parra said the university may consider hosting future testing sites.
Contact CU Independent Editor-in-Chief Robert Tann at robert.tann@colorado.edu.
