Mercy placed a planned South County coronavirus testing site on hold last week the day it was set to open, but still plans to open the new site at some point.
Plans for the South County testing were postponed because “we want to make sure we have everyone and everything in place to ensure the site runs smoothly when it does open,” a Mercy spokesman said in an email.
The South St. Louis County site will be located in the parking lot of the MetLife building at 13045 Tesson Ferry Road in Concord, 63128.
With more cases of the novel coronavirus also known as COVID-19 appearing in the St. Louis region, Mercy opened drive-thru testing sites in Chesterfield, Washington and Hillsboro.
Anyone seeking a test must call Mercy’s COVID-19 Clinical Support Line at 314-251-0500 before arriving. The drive-thrus are exclusively reserved for patients who meet the Centers for Disease Control and state health department guidelines for testing. To qualify for testing at the drive-thru site, patients must have a fever of at least 100.4 degrees and respiratory symptoms including cough or shortness of breath, and either travel to a high-risk area or contact with a confirmed COVID-19 patient.
Hillsboro: Jefferson County Fairgrounds at 10349 Business 21 in Hillsboro, 63050.
Washington: 6 Fairgrounds Road, Washington, 63090.
BJC opens testing site
BJC HealthCare has opened its first COVID-19 specimen collection center in the Cortex corridor as health-care organizations join in creating more widely available testing resources throughout the region.
The center is available to those who are being referred by BJC providers after screening and those who have been pre-screened using U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines. BJC is planning to open additional sites in north St. Louis County and the Metro East in the coming weeks.
“The collection center will help better serve our community and reduce potential exposures in hospitals and clinics where patients are being treated for other kinds of medical issues,” said Clay Dunagan, MD, BJC senior vice president and chief clinical officer.
BJC encourages the public to be proactive in protecting their health by practicing infection prevention techniques, which can be found at bjc.org/coronavirus. For any specific health concerns, contact your health provider.
BJC has suspended visitors at its facilities, as have Mercy and SSM Health, in order to combat the coronavirus and protect patients and employees.
Exceptions will be allowed in a few instances, such as end of life. Visitors who meet the exceptions will be screened before entering a waiting or patient care area.
