The Brown County Health Department is bringing free COVID-19 testing back to the Brown County Music Center beginning this week.
This clinic is set to open on Wednesday, Sept. 2, provided that “some technological issues” can be worked out, said a press release from Public Health Preparedness Coordinator Corey Frost.
It is offering free testing for active COVID-19 infections — not antibody tests that could show if a person has recovered from the virus.
Participants can drive through the parking lot at the BCMC, off State Road 46 East behind Brown County Health & Living Community, to get tested.
Registration for appointments should be done online at scheduling.coronavirus.in.gov. However, as of today, that site wasn’t working properly, Frost said. Until it is, people can just drive up without an appointment and staff can check them in when they get there, he said.
The clinic is scheduled to be open until Dec. 31. “A monthly calendar will be made public the last week of each month for the following month as operations are re-evaluated,” the press release said.
September hours will be 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays. Beginning Sept. 12, some Saturday hours will be offered, from 9 a.m. to noon. The clinic will not be open on Sundays or holidays.
The phone number to reach the clinic is 812-320-1124.
The county had a drive-thru testing site at the BCMC which was operated by the state health department from July 14 to Aug. 8. It tested about 1,450 people in that time. Brown County has been without a free testing site since then.
A grant and “tremendous teamwork” made this more permanent clinic possible, Frost said.
“Brown County Emergency Management and the Brown County Department of Health have worked diligently with our state partners to express the need of a local free testing site since the beginning of the pandemic,” the press release said.
Unlike last time free testing was offered, this time, children in Grades K-12 will be able to be tested, and younger children might be able to be tested as well depending on the availability of testing supplies, Frost said.
As of Friday afternoon, Brown County had recorded 88 confirmed cases of the virus since March. Two of those people had died.
“The health and well-being of our county continues to be the highest priority of Brown County Emergency Management and Brown County Public Health Preparedness,” the press release said.
“While our numbers slowly continue to climb, we have remained very low compared to other areas of the state and have seen very little evidence of community spread.”
“Community spread” refers to unrelated people contracting the virus without knowing how or where they got it.
