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BayCare launches drive-thru Covid-19 testing at Carillon, Clearwater and other sites
BayCare Health System is transforming seven BayCare Urgent Care locations in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area into drive-thru testing centers for Covid-19.
The new service, which launches Wednesday morning, is only for BayCare patients who have been instructed to be tested by their doctor or by a physician from BayCare Anywhere, a telemedicine app. For now, patients must meet the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testing guidelines, although access may expand in the future.
“This will allow us to test more people more efficiently and safely,” Dr. Nishant Anand, chief medical officer at BayCare, said in a news release. “As state and federal authorities make more testing supplies available, our capacity can increase. BayCare is committed to maximizing what tools we have to serve our communities and we hope to see this concept expand in the future.”
BayCare Urgent Care in Carillon, at 900 Carillon Parkway, is one of testing sites. The others are:
- BayCare Urgent Care (New Port Richey), 4821 U.S. Highway 19, New Port Richey, FL 34652
- BayCare Urgent Care (Countryside), 3351 N. McMullen-Booth Road, Clearwater, FL 33761
- BayCare Urgent Care (Tampa), 3440 W. Dr. MLK Jr. Blvd., Suite 100, Tampa, FL 33607
- BayCare Urgent Care (New Tampa), 17512 Dona Michelle Drive, Suite 5, Tampa, FL 33647
- BayCare Urgent Care (Bloomingdale), 2442 Bloomingdale Ave., Valrico, FL 33596
- BayCare Urgent Care (Haines City), 36245 U.S. Highway 27, Haines City, FL 33844
The sites will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Here’s how it will work. Patients will stay in their car while moving through three test stations. Each patient, if they had not been already, will be tested for routine respiratory viruses as well as Covid-19. When appropriate, BayCare team members will wear personal protection equipment to insure safety.
Patients need to present insurance when they arrive. However, their fee will be waived, a spokeswoman for BayCare said.
Results will be communicated to patients after the tests are processed by a laboratory. Results take from two to four days to receive. Positive results will be forwarded to the CDC for confirmation and shared with the Florida Department of Health, as required by state law.
Some BayCare Laboratory Patient Service Centers have closed so they can staff the testing sites. Many BayCare Urgent Care centers and laboratory service are still open for regular care; click here for a list of which facilities are open and closed. All Walk-in-Care kiosks at selected Publix stores are currently closed.
Steve Hoy
March 18, 2020at10:21 am
this would b so much better if insurance were not ‘required’ & priority could b given 2 those needing this testing most urgently, such as food delivery drivers, like myself, who cannot currently afford health insurance.