(WXYZ) — The regional COVID-19 community testing center at the former State Fairgrounds location will be moving to a new facility this week.
The testing center will relocate to the Joseph Williams Community Center located at 8431 Rosa Parks Blvd. beginning Tuesday. The move to an indoor facility was necessary in anticipation of cooler temperatures, and planning has been underway for months.
Free COVID-19 testing will still be available to any resident of the tri-county region (Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb County). Residents wishing to receive a free COVID-19 test can still call 313-230-0505 to schedule an appointment at the new site.
The testing center opened in March and was one of the first drive-up testing sites in the state. At its peak, more than 1,200 people were tested across metro Detroit per day.
In all, more than 55,000 tests were administered, and eventually, anyone could get tested without a prescription if you lived in metro Detroit.
“The team that has been running the testing site at the Fairgrounds did an extraordinary job making it smooth and efficient for Detroiters and our suburban neighbors to have convenient access to testing,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said in a release. “I am confident that the new site will run just as well and that we’ll continue to contain the spread of the virus through the knowledge of who has it and who doesn’t.”
New development is planned to begin around October at the former fairgrounds site, so officials wanted to transition to the new site before the cold set in.
“The Community Center can accommodate the same volume of test per day as the previous site, but current testing demand is between 200-300 test per day,” said Hakim Berry Chief Operating Officer for the City of Detroit. “Residents can expect the same safe and swift testing experience with slightly modifed procedures to accommodate foot traffic entering and exiting the building.”
Testing will be open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Call center hours are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. Detroit residents will still be able to take advantage of $2 round-trip rides through IntelliRide. Riders can only be picked up and dropped off at a Detroit address.
Additional Coronavirus information and resources:
Click here for a page with resources including a COVID-19 overview from the CDC, details on cases in Michigan, a timeline of Governor Gretchen Whitmer's orders since the outbreak, coronavirus' impact on Southeast Michigan, and links to more information from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC and the WHO.
View a global coronavirus tracker with data from Johns Hopkins University.
See complete coverage on our Coronavirus Continuing Coverage page.
Visit our The Rebound Detroit, a place where we are working to help people impacted financially from the coronavirus. We have all the information on everything available to help you through this crisis and how to access it.