Walworth County Department of Health and Human Services will discontinue COVID-19 community testing that has been provided by the Wisconsin National Guard and through a community partnership with Covenant Harbor effective July 31.
“These community-based testing sites have been critical to our COVID-19 response,” Health and Human Services Deputy Director Trista Piccola said. “Since their launch last summer, these sites have administered thousands of COVID-19 tests, helping to curb the spread of the virus.
“But in the wake of vaccine availability, demand for community-based testing rapidly decreased from hundreds of tests per day to just two or three, while accessibility to other testing resources has stabilized. It is for these reasons that we have recommended discontinuing the COVID-19 community testing sites.”
Residents can access COVID-19 testing at 12 different physical locations in and around Walworth County, including Walgreens, Mercy Walworth and Aurora hospitals, and five at-home testing options. These testing options include a variety of test types, symptomatic and asymptomatic testing, and fee-based, insurance billable, or free testing.
Testing provided by Walgreens is funded by the federal Health and Human Services Department and is slated to continue for the foreseeable future, while testing available through the UW-Whitewater is expected to continue through August.
Walworth County Public Health will resume testing should there be a need as a result of outbreaks or sudden surges and existing resources become insufficient to test and control disease spread.
“We have the ability to flip the switch and quickly re-open these sites should the need arise,” Health and Human Services Director Carlo Nevicosi said.
A full list of county testing locations can be found at www.co.walworth.wi.us/873/Testing-Information.
For the latest COVID-19 updates, follow Walworth County Department of Health and Human Services on Facebook. Residents can also contact Walworth County Health and Human Services at walcohhs@co.walworth.wi.us or 262-741-3200.
