Community organizations to begin piloting 'large-scale' testing site at Graham Park

Olmsted County Public Health announced Friday it will begin collaborating with Olmsted Medical Center and Mayo Clinic on a “large-scale” COVID-19 specimen collection site at Graham Park.

Officials said the drive-through testing site — the third in Rochester — is being put up due to increased demands for testing.

Teams from each organization will begin working together this weekend to pilot the process to assure the site can be quickly activated.

This is the first site being operated as a joint operation. The other two are managed exclusively by Mayo staff.

All samples collected at the site will be sent to Mayo Clinic Laboratories for testing. On Thursday, Mayo announced that using new equipment it now has the capacity to process as many as 4,000 coronavirus tests per day.

Individuals, however, are still being asked to call their primary care provider to have a phone screening first to determine if testing is appropriate and meet criteria for a COVID-19 test.

If approved, patients will be directed a specimen collection site and will receive further instructions at the site.

As of Friday morning, there were 115 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Minnesota (11 in Olmsted County). Because testing is limited, though, the actual number of cases is believed to be significantly higher.

Cover photo via Mayo Clinic