HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The Reno County Health Department was advised on Monday that a mass mobile testing site will be set up in Hutchinson in the near future. Nick Baldetti with the Health Department says all of the details aren’t available at this time.
“There’s going to be six to eight specific locations where these mobile (test) trailers will go,” Baldetti said.
Baldetti says the county was notified of the testing, but that the details have been a little erratic coming from the state. And while it's called the Walmart test, it is not going to be held at Walmart. The city was chosen as one of the sites because of the fairgrounds.
“One of the prerequisites is that they want the testing due to liability reason that it takes place on state grounds,” Baldetti said.
Residents who want a test will have to go through an appointment process to get one.
“There’s apparently going to be an online self-signup website,” Baldetti said. “You sign up and then you set an appointment, show up for that appointment through the drive-thru . . . you walk through this trailer, collect the specimen and then you’re done.”
Baldetti wanted to stress that getting tested doesn’t mean that a person can relax their social distancing practices or other precautions and a negative test doesn’t mean you can’t still catch the virus.
No date was given by the state for when the tests will be available or when the signup period will start.