BRISTOL, Conn. (WTIC Radio) - Bristol Health opened a drive-through specimen collection site for COVID-19 testing Friday outside Bristol Hospital.
Patients with a written order from their primary care physician will be able to drive into the site and get swabbed by licensed registered nurses from the Bristol/Burlington Health District, according to Bristol Health officials. Those without a written physician order for COVID-19 testing will be turned away.
Director of Emergency Management at Bristol Health, David Koscuk, says it's a quick process. The patient will drive up to the first station for identity verification. Along with the written physician order, the patient will need a photo identification card and an insurance card, Koscuk says.
Once verified, the patient will drive to the second station where they will be asked to step out of the car for the swabbing. Nurses wearing two layers of protective equipment will conduct a nasal swab, though Director of Surgical Services Nancy LaMonica says nurses have been trained to conduct oral swabs if the patient does not want a nasal swab.
Afterward, the specimen is packaged and stored in a refrigerator until the afternoon when the specimen is sent out to the University of Washington laboratory for testing which Koscuk says is done every day. The results of the test will be sent to the physician of the written order in about five to seven days, Koscuk says.
As the patient drives off the site, the nurses will disinfect the area and put on a new external layer of protective gear for the next patient, officials say.
According to Koscuk, the site is open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. until further notice. The site has enough supplies to do a couple hundred tests, Koscuk says.
The site is located in the parking lot of the Queen Street entrance of Bristol Hospital.
