Hamilton County Public Health announced on June 26 that they have partnered with the Cincinnati Health Department to offer drive-thru and walk-up COVID-19 testing sites throughout the county in "areas of concern," from June 29 to July 8.
This week, Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus said during a press briefing, “I’m saddened to report that Hamilton County is seeing its biggest spike in new cases since the COVID-19 crisis began.”
Driehaus said part of the reason for the uptick is, yes, more people are getting tested and being diagnosed. “However, the recent spike is too large to be explained by just (testing) alone," she said.
Zip Codes 45231 and 45240 — Forest Park, Springfield Township, Mt. Healthy, North College Hill — have been particularly hard hit with the recent increase. A third Zip Code, 45238, is also a concern, but that area seems to be a hot spot due to coronavirus infections in nursing homes.
“Testing is one of the main components of our work toward ending the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to interim Hamilton County Health Commissioner Greg Kesterman in a release. “Testing and then isolating positive cases while performing extensive contact tracing is the roadmap to ending this pandemic."
The new pop-up tests will be performed by members of the National Guard "and will be available at no cost (for those without health insurance)," says the health department.
The testing sites will occur in the affected Zip Codes in Forest Park, North College Hill, Delhi Township and Colerain.
The dates, times and addresses are listed below:
Forest Park:
- 1-7 p.m. Monday, June 29: Parking lot across from O’Reilly Auto Parts, 2280 Waycross Road
- 1-7 p.m. Tuesday, June 30: Word of Deliverance Ministries for the World, 693 Fresno Road
- 1-7 p.m. Wednesday, July 1: Forest Chapel United Methodist Church, 680 West Sharon Road
- 1-7 p.m. Thursday, July 2: Walmart, 1143 Smiley Road
North College Hill:
- 1-7 p.m. Monday, July 6: Lifespring Church, 1373 Galbraith Road
Delhi Township:
- 1-7 p.m. Tuesday, July 7: Former Remke property, 5025 Delhi Pike
Colerain:
- 1-7 p.m. Wednesday, July 8: Colerain Public Works, 4160 Springdale Road
For more information about other Hamilton County testing sites, visit hcph.org.
*A earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the tests would be available only for those with health insurance, it has since been corrected.
