Drive-through COVID-19 testing site to open Tuesday at West Kentucky Community and Technical College

Paducah, KY (04/17/2020) — Drive-thru COVID-19 testing will begin operations next week on the West Kentucky Community and Technical College campus on Alben Barkley Drive, emergency management officials announced Thursday.

McCracken County Emergency Management Director Jerome Mansfield said McCracken County and Paducah leaders will have a virtual meeting at 2 p.m. on Friday to share more details about the testing site.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced Thursday during his daily update that Paducah was one of four cities to have new COVID-19 testing sites in partnership with Kroger Health. Other locations will be in Madisonville, Somerset and Pikeville.

"WKCTC is honored that Governor Andy Beshear has selected our college as a regional host site for COVID 19 drive through testing at a critical time in the health of our community, commonwealth and nation," said WKCTC President Anton Reece. "I will reiterate that the operative word in our title is 'Community,' and therefore we continue to stand ready to assist all our citizens."

Gov. Beshear said one key to restarting business activity and paving the way back toward more normal activities is widespread testing. In a move toward that goal, Gov. Beshear announced an expansion of the state's partnership with Kroger to provide drive-through testing for the coronavirus. Testing has been underway this week in Franklin and Kenton counties.

The new sites, including the one that will be in WKCTC's Carson Hall lower parking lot, will be open from Tuesday, April 21 through Thursday, April 23. They will operate from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. each day. The goal is to test up to 330 people per day at each location.

Those eligible for the tests include people exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, including fever, shortness of breath and cough; health care workers and first responders who may have been exposed to coronavirus; and anyone with mild symptoms who also may have been exposed to COVID-19.

"Kroger is committed to expanding our drive-through testing sites in other locations to provide this vital need to increase the health and wellness directly in our communities," said Meegan Brown, National Health and Wellness TLC Director of Kroger Health.

Kroger Health is in charged of the testing and not WKCTC. The testing is done free of charge. The overall goal of the partnership is to conduct 20,000 tests over the next five weeks. Test results are expected within approximately 48 hours. People who want to register for testing should visit KROGERHEALTH.COM/COVIDTESTING or https://www.thelittleclinic.com/drivethru-testing or call 1-888-852-2567 and select option 3 for support.

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