Coronavirus Testing Begins Thursday At Union Station
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – In the continued effort to make coronavirus testing more available, a new COVID-19 testing kiosk will open at Union Station Thursday in downtown Los Angeles, one of the largest train stations in the nation.
The walk-up kiosk will be capable of conducting 500 tests per day, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday in a news conference. The tests will be free.
People do not need an advanced appointment to get tested, although they can make one here.
The idea behind the kiosk is to reach people who may have had trouble getting tested because most testing sites in L.A. County are set up as drive-thrus.
The kiosk will be managed by L.A.-based testing company Curative. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
Also Wednesday, local officials announced that they had partnered with SafePass, a mobile app which anonymously tracks people who may have been exposed to the coronavirus and notifies them to get tested. The app is free and voluntary.
Ramping up COVID-19 testing has been an emphasis of city and county health officials. The L.A. Unified School District announced in mid-August it was launching an ambitious program to provide regular coronavirus testing and contact tracing to its tens of thousands of students and staff. The program is expected to cost $150 million.
