April 24, 2020 Baltimore County

New Sites Make Free Testing Available Five Days A Week; Community Test Sites Offer Ease and Accessibility for Residents

A little more than a week after opening its drive-through testing site at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium, Baltimore County is opening two additional sites to help keep pace with the demand for testing, as well as provide access in areas with high rates of confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Beginning next week, the Baltimore County Department of Health will operate a walk-up clinic at the Liberty Family Resource Center on Mondays, and in partnership with the Maryland Department of Health, the County will operate a testing site at the Owings Mills Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program on Wednesdays and Fridays.

The addition of these latest sites will mean COVID-19 testing will be available Monday through Friday across the County.

"As we continue responding to this pandemic, additional testing capacity is critical to keeping County residents safe and a necessary condition for opening back up," County Executive Johnny Olszewski said. "These two new sites give us the capacity to, as they become available, perform significantly more tests in the areas of the County that have been hardest hit by the virus."

"Testing continues to be key in containing the spread of the virus," said County Health Officer Dr. Gregory Wm. Branch. "Staging test clinics in communities that report a high number of confirmed cases will help us identify people who need to quarantine to protect against infecting others."

Beginning Monday, April 27, testing will occur at the following sites on the days identified:

Patients must first get authorization from a healthcare provider to be tested. Once authorization is obtained, the person to be tested must schedule an appointment using the state-designated Chesapeake Regional Information System (CRISP).

Tested individuals will receive post-test instructions at the clinic and most test results will be available within two days. Persons arriving at any of these sites without an order from a healthcare provider and a pre-scheduled appointment will not be tested.

People coming for testing are asked to adhere to recommendations and safety guidelines, including wearing face coverings, observing social distancing, and following post-test instructions received at the sites.

Hotline

For questions and additional information, call the Baltimore County COVID-19 Hotline seven days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 410-887-3816.