Medical assistant Isaias Lopez, an Embry Health employee, enters information into his phone while working at a new drive-thru COVID test site Tuesday at the Benson Community Center.
Isaias Lopez, a medical assistant with Embry Health, sets up signs that direct the public into a new drive-thru COVID test site at the Benson Community Center. The free tests are offered 7 a.m.-4 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday.
Medical assistant Isaias Lopez, an Embry Health employee, enters information into his phone while working at a new drive-thru COVID test site Tuesday at the Benson Community Center.
Isaias Lopez, a medical assistant with Embry Health, sets up signs that direct the public into a new drive-thru COVID test site at the Benson Community Center. The free tests are offered 7 a.m.-4 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday.
BENSON — In an effort to make COVID testing readily accessible to the public, Embry Health is offering free drive-thru COVID testing centers with three sites in Benson.
The newest drive-thru site, manned by medical assistant Isaias Lopez, is located at the Benson Community Center and is available from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday.
“We offer the PCR COVID tests and the results take anywhere from one to three days,” said Lopez, who was working at the community center location on Tuesday. “This is the first day we’ve offered the test at this location, but we’ve been providing the tests at Our Lady of the Lourdes Catholic Church seven days a week and at the Community Presbyterian Church Monday through Friday from noon to 7 p.m.”
The free tests are offered as a supervised self-swabbing process, which the public finds more comfortable than the earlier tests.
“People in rural areas are really grateful that we’re providing these tests,” Lopez said. “Their only option prior to this was being tested at a local clinic where you were often required to make an appointment.”
Results of the test will be available via email or text or can be picked up at the site.
Cochise County health officials remind the public of the importance of getting vaccinated in order to protect themselves and others against COVID-19. Because of COVID’s extremely high transmission rate, unvaccinated people are at an extremely high risk of contracting the disease.
Individuals are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving either the second dose of a two-dose vaccine series such as Pfizer or Moderna, or one dose of a single-dose vaccine. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends additional vaccine doses for all adults.
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