Community Health Center in Norwalk now offering drive-thru COVID tests

Originally posted at The Wilton Bulletin

The Day Street Community Health Center is moving all of its COVID-19 testing to Veteran’s Park.

Residents can now receive a free, drive-thru coronavirus test seven days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., city officials announced on Wednesday. No symptoms, appointments, insurance or doctor’s note is needed to get tested. Due to high demand, testing lines may close at 3:30 p.m.

Norwalk has been trying to increase its free COVID testing since the city began seeing a spike in cases last month. The city has been declared a “red zone” by the state Health Department based on the number of cases per residents.

“I am grateful for the continued partnership between the City and the Day Street Community Health Center to expand COVID-19 testing in Norwalk. The demand for testing continues to increase and we worked hard to make testing available to as many people as possible. By moving operations to Vets Park seven days a week, we have greatly increased accessibility to testing in the community,” Mayor Harry Rilling said in a statement.

City officials are also encouraging residents to wear masks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that wearing a mask or face covering not only protects those around someone who is wearing a mask, but also protects the wearer from COVID-19. This updates previous guidance that suggested the main benefit of mask wearing was to help those infected with COVID-19 from spreading it to others.

The Norwalk Health Department tracks the daily positive COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population on a seven- and 14-day average in the city. From Nov. 1 to Nov. 7, there were 29.5 daily cases per 100,000 people, and 40.2 daily cases per 100,000 people between Oct. 25 and Nov. 7. Analyzing cases per 100,000 residents helps track the incidence rate of COVID-19 in the community and allows for standard comparisons between communities. The test positivity rate from Oct. 25 to Nov. 7 was 6.9 percent.

The city reported 150 new cases of coronavirus this week as of Wednesday.