Mayo Clinic preparing second COVID-19 testing site downtown

Mayo Clinic has begun setting up a second testing site for COVID-19.

On Monday evening, crews could be seen installing temporary trailers in an empty parking lot at the corner of Third Avenue SW & Fourth Street SW.

Mayo spokesperson Ginger Plumbo said the specimen collection area will be similar to the one outside the Northwest Clinic. The new temporary site, she said, will accommodate ambulatory patients on the downtown campus.

Because of the support of private partners like Mayo, the state has been able to beef up testing in recent days. As of Monday, 54 Minnesotans had tested positive for the virus out of approximately 1,893 patients tested.

Three of the confirmed cases have been here in Olmsted County. All three individuals are believed to have contracted the virus will traveling to high-risk areas. So far, however, there does not appear to be evidence of community transmission.

As we previously reported, Mayo has developed its own test for the virus. As of now, the Clinic is able to process up to a few hundred tests per day. That number, though, is expected to increase to over 1,000 tests a day in the coming weeks, thanks in part to a recent donation from Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns.

Sean Baker is a Rochester journalist and the founder of Med City Beat.