Chris Murphy visits the Community Health Center in Bristol

Originally posted on Bristol Press

Sen. Chris Murphy visited the Community Health Center Inc., at 395 North Main St., Friday morning to discuss the status of the covid-19 testing in the community.

“Visited the Community Health Center in Bristol this morning to say thanks to the team doing testing there 7 days a week. Bristol’s positive rate has been low compared to the rest of the state, thanks in no small part to the great leadership of Mayor @EllenZoppo,” he tweeted.

CHC has been providing free drive up and walk up covid-19 testing to children and adults of all ages since early September.

“The testing is going very well,” said Margaret Flinter, CHC senior vice president and clinical director. “We’ve been problem solving together with the city. A lot of people want to get tested and long lines are very challenging – both for the people that are in them but also for the street that they’re happening on.”

The solution the city came up with was to have the cars first line up in Centre Square across the street, where someone takes the drivers’ information and then sends the cars over to the CHC parking lot on Race Street 10 at a time, Flinter explained.

“So you see a line which is only as big as our parking lot at any one time, but there’s a much longer line over there,” she said. “It’s a really great solution. We’re very focused on keeping things moving but we have to do it correctly and efficiently.”

Flinter said CHC is preparing for possibly being able to provide covid-19 vaccines once they are widely available.

“We are of course following very closely the guidance as they’re released, and the protocols around these particular vaccines in how some of them need to be stored,” she said. “We are prepared logistically. As an organization certainly we’re very experienced in terms of giving vaccines.”

The only thing that’s absolutely clear so far is that the vaccines will be intended first for nursing homes, emergency responders, and health care staff, “and they may further stratify within that,” she said.

“After this covid testing experience I think we have the capacity to do almost anything, but we will have to follow the guidelines around the prioritization,” she added. “But meanwhile our attitude is let’s be fully prepared to do everything that needs to be done in our communities, and this covid testing experience has been a great opportunity to problem solve around some of these issues.”

CHC does testing on Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. You do not need to be experiencing symptoms, have a referral, or make an appointment. Results are generally available in two to three days.

Participants are encouraged to register in advance by calling CHC’s covid-19 hotline: 475-241-0740. They can be tested as many times as needed. Children under 18 must have parent or guardian consent to be tested.