Jefferson County Public Health Announces New Large Capacity COVID-19 Testing Sites

From Jefferson County Public Health:

Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH), in partnership with the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment (CDPHE) and Curative Testing, is launching two new FREE COVID-19 testing sites in the county. The first, located at Jefferson County Fairgrounds at 15200 W. 6th Ave Frontage Rd., Golden, CO 80401, opens Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, with the following schedule:

While walk-ins are welcome, we encourage everyone to pre-register on the Curative Testing website, cur.tv/jeffco.The test site in Golden can perform at least 2,000 tests a day. Results are expected to take 2-3 days for individuals to receive. In addition, the testing performed at the Golden location is a self-performed oral test, which minimizes the in-person contact and risk of transmission for all site visitors and testing professionals.

In addition to the testing site at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, there will be a mobile COVID-19 testing van that will provide free testing at several locations in mountain communities throughout Jefferson County as well as neighboring counties. The van, which can administer up to 300 tests per day with a 2-3 day turnaround time on results, will begin operation on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020, with the following schedule. Links to register for testing are provided below:

“The new testing sites are tremendous tools to add to the fight against COVID-19, and wonderful resources for our community. Testing sites across our community have been seeing drastic increases in need, and the addition of the Jefferson County Fairgrounds test site and the mobile testing van will help fill the gap,” said Christine Billings, Emergency Preparedness and Response Coordinator and Head of the Office of Pandemic Response at JCPH.

Testing at both the Jefferson County Fairgrounds and the mobile testing van will be provided to anyone who is experiencing symptoms or who believes they have been in contact with someone who has the virus. No one will be denied testing.

Symptoms of COVID-19 include:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

Anyone who gets tested because of symptoms or because of a possible exposure should begin and remain in isolation/quarantine while waiting for the test result. All individuals who believe they may have been exposed to COVID-19 should quarantine for a full 14 days, even if they have testing done and that testing is negative, as the novel coronavirus can still be spread by asymptomatic individuals and it can take several days for the virus to show up on a test.

“At JCPH, we’re excited to partner with CDPHE and Curative to expand the availability and access to testing across our county and region,” said Dr. Margaret Huffman, Director of Community Health Services at JCPH. “We know that the sooner someone knows they have COVID-19, the sooner they can take important steps to prevent disease spread, like isolating at home and notifying their close contacts. These new testing sites will help more people know if they have the virus sooner, which will help our community in the fight against COVID-19.”

For more information on testing, including additional locations to get a COVID-19 test, please visit the Jefferson County COVID-19 Testing website. To learn more about JCPH, the county’s efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19 and the current status of regulations in Jeffco, please visit www.jeffco.us/coronavirus.

Joel Newton

Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.