Anaheim begins free coronavirus testing for Orange County residents at the Convention Center

After Irvine became the first Orange County city to offer a drive-through COVID-19 testing site on Monday, Anaheim opened another at the Anaheim Convention Center on Wednesday, in partnership with Garden Grove-based Clinic 360.

For patients with insurance, insurers will be billed with no out-of-pocket cost, and for those without insurance, federal funding will cover the cost of testing.

Testing will be offered Wednesdays through Sundays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. by appointment only.

There will be a limited amount of tests available at first, as the clinic is starting with a smaller number of appointments this week, explained Mike Lyster, Anaheim city spokesperson. But the site will soon offer 600 to 800 tests a day with a goal of expanding to 1,200 a day within two weeks.

Clinicians from 360 Clinic are administering the test kits at the Anaheim Convention Center, but citizens will do their own sample taking.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

Testing will be contact-free and self-administered, and those being tested will remain in their vehicles with their windows up unless they are receiving or returning materials. The samples will be processed off-site.

The testing services are available for: those with symptoms; healthcare workers, first responders and other essential workers; residents and employees of skilled nursing and other group living facilities; and those who have had close contact (15 minutes or more, less than 6 feet) with someone known or suspected to have COVID-19.

The testing site is on the west side of Anaheim Convention Center, in a surface parking lot and parking structure off West Street south of Katella Avenue.

A test kit is passed through the car window at the Anaheim Convention Center.

(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

“As Orange County’s largest city, Anaheim is meeting the challenge of coronavirus,” Mayor Harry Sidhu said, in a news release. “No other Orange County city has the spaces and skills to make this happen on this scale. Anaheim is proud to do our part to address rising cases in our city and across the county.”

As of Wednesday, Anaheim has had a total of 4,654 cases of coronavirus and 102 deaths from COVID-19, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency. Anaheim and Santa Ana are Orange County’s hardest-hit cities when it comes to the virus.

To make an appointment, visit OCcovid19.ochealthinfo.com/supersite. For questions, call (800) 446-8888.

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