Mobile COVID-19 testing set for Covington and Simpson counties

JACKSON, Miss., May 18, 2020 /CNW/ - Residents of Covington and Simpson counties and surrounding communities can be tested for COVID-19 this week as the University of Mississippi Medical Center and Mississippi State Department of Health continue efforts to stem virus transmission by setting up one-day, drive-through collection sites.

Collection sites were previously announced for this week in Chickasaw, Jones, Yalobusha and Lowndes counties.  

A previous release said a testing site on Tuesday is in Heidelberg in Jasper County, but that site is actually in Jones County, but near the Jasper County border. Also, a second testing site for Tuesday was updated earlier and is in Yalobusha County, not Tallahatchie County.

Anyone can be tested who is experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, cough, shortness of breath or sore throat; or who has a known or potential exposure to someone confirmed with the virus.

Those who want to be tested must first get an appointment by going through a free screening from a UMMC clinician, either through the C Spire Health telehealth smartphone app or by phone. The fastest and easiest way to get screened and tested is with the C Spire Health app. It's available daily from 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

The newest testing site for Thursday, May 21:

• Covington County: Covington County Multi-Purpose Building, 68 Collins Industrial Park Drive, Collins

The newest testing site for Friday, May 22:

• Simpson County: Simpson County Livestock Arena, 2777 Simpson Highway 49, Mendenhall

Previously announced testing sites for Tuesday, May 19:

• Jones County (near the Jasper County border): Bogue Homa Facility Building, 109 McFarland Road, Heidelberg
• Yalobusha County (updated): Oakland Fire Department, 13863 Hickory St., Oakland

The previously announced testing site for Wednesday, May 20:

• Lowndes County: Columbus High School, 215 Hemlock St., Columbus

Testing hours are noon-4 p.m. Only those with appointments will be tested.

Hundreds of people in Mississippi communities have taken advantage of the UMMC/MSDH drive-through collection sites. Those numbers include, as of the end of the day May 16, a total 2,294 people at 63 one-day testing states statewide, plus another 5,137 at the Mississippi State Fairgrounds, for a total of 7,431 tested.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the Mississippi National Guard are partnering with UMMC and MSDH to coordinate mobile testing sites. UMMC and C Spire have partnered to make the screening free to all Mississippians.

Those without smartphones who want to be screened for testing can call (601) 496-7200.

During drive-through testing, health care professionals will collect specimen samples via a nose swab. Those being tested will not exit their vehicle. For more information about testing, click here.

About the University of Mississippi Medical Center
UMMC is the state's only academic medical center. Its education, research and health care missions share the objectives of improving the health of the state's population and eliminating health disparities. Located in Jackson.

UMMC encompasses seven health science schools, including medicine, nursing, health related professions, dentistry, pharmacy, graduate studies and population health. The Medical Center's health care enterprise includes the state's only Level I trauma center, only children's hospital, and only organ and bone marrow transplant program. The Medical Center also is home to a Telehealth Center of Excellence, one of two in the nation. 

For more information, visit www.umc.edu and click here to view news and features stories produced by UMMC Communications and Marketing.

About C Spire
C Spire provides a full suite of world-class, customer-inspired dedicated Internet, IP Voice, data, managed services, cloud services, value added resale and mobile communications to businesses and wireless, 1 Gigabit consumer Internet access and related home services for consumers.  This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at twitter.com/cspire.

SOURCE C Spire

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