Rite Aid opens 4 self-swab drive-through COVID-19 test sites in Pennsylvania

Rite Aid is adding four self-serve COVID-19 testing sites in Pennsylvania. The company said it opened two sites Tuesday — one in Philadelphia and one in Harrisburg, and has slated sites in York and Pittsburgh to open April 16.

The drive-through testing sites, which will use self-swab nasal tests that will be overseen by Rite Aid pharmacists, will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Each site is expected to be able to conduct roughly 200 tests each day at no cost to patients who meet criteria established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and who pre-registered on riteaid.com. The tests will be conducted in the parking lot of Rite Aid stores, and the company has partnered with Verily and its Baseline COVID-19 Program to provide screening, scheduling and return of results to patients. 

"Rite Aid is pleased to build on the success of our pilot site in Philadelphia with a new COVID-19 testing location in Harrisburg. We plan to have additional testing sites at stores across seven states in the coming weeks" said Heyward Donigan, Rite Aid president and CEO. "Through our partnership with the White House Coronavirus Task Force, and with tremendous support from state and local officials, we will significantly expand COVID-19 testing to more than 5,000 tests daily in our country's key hot spots when fully operational. We are incredibly proud of the outstanding work and commitment of all our Rite Aid associates both in our stores and at the testing sites who are providing an important and critical service to the communities we serve."

The company said that BioReference Labs has been selected to provide lab testing to all drive-up locations and PWNHealth, a national clinician network, is providing clinical oversight for the testing program. 

Rite Aid said that it is expecting to add further testing locations in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Michigan, Connecticut and Virginia in the coming weeks, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services.