CVS Opening Coronavirus Testing Sites In Stamford

STAMFORD, CT — CVS announced Thursday that it will open 13 new coronavirus testing sites in Connecticut, including two in Stamford. The test sites will open at select CVS Pharmacy drive-thru locations on Friday, May 22, adding to the 12 locations that opened last week in Connecticut, according to officials.

The two Stamford site will open at the CVS Pharmacy at 229 Hope Street and at 1938 West Main Street. The new sites will use self-swab tests and mark the next phase of the company's nationwide COVID-19 testing strategy, which was announced April 27. (To sign up for Stamford breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

Self-swab tests will be available to people who meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria, in addition to age guidelines. Patients must register in advance at CVS.com beginning May 22 to schedule an appointment.

"Patients will be required to stay in their cars and directed to the pharmacy drive-thru window where they will be provided with a test kit and given instructions, and a CVS Pharmacy team member will observe the self-swab process to ensure it is done properly," officials wrote in a news release. "Tests will be sent to an independent, third-party lab for processing and the results will be available in approximately three days."

Testing will not take place inside any retail locations, and CVS Pharmacy, HealthHUB and MinuteClinic will continue to serve customers and patients, officials said.

“CVS Health has been a significant partner in Connecticut's efforts to increase COVID-19 testing," Gov. Ned Lamont said in an emailed statement, "and I appreciate their willingness to work with our administration on expanding these locations so that we can make testing more accessible and convenient for our residents, particularly within the hardest hit communities."

CVS Health expects to have up to 1,000 locations across the country offering this service by the end of May, with the goal of processing up to 1.5 million tests per month, subject to availability of supplies and lab capacity, according to the release.

"As we move into a new phase of combating the pandemic and as communities begin to safely open up their local economies, we need testing to be easily accessible," said Troyen Brennan, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, CVS Health. "By further expanding the number of drive-thru test sites available across our retail network, more people can be tested closer to home in a familiar setting."

Once fully operational, more than half of the company's 1,000 test sites will serve communities with the greatest need for support, as measured by the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index, according to the release. The index tracks a variety of census variables including poverty, lack of access to transportation, and crowded housing that may weaken a community's ability to prepare for and recover from hazardous events like natural disasters and disease outbreaks.

The additional new testing sites in Connecticut include:

• CVS Pharmacy, 81 North Street, Bristol, CT 06010
• CVS Pharmacy, 292 Spielman Highway, Burlington, CT 06013
• CVS Pharmacy, 47 Lake Avenue Extension, Danbury, CT 06811
• CVS Pharmacy, 15 Chesterfield Road, East Lyme, CT 06333
• CVS Pharmacy, 16 Main Street, East Hartford, CT 06118
• CVS Pharmacy, 1770 Kings Highway, Fairfield, CT 06824
• CVS Pharmacy, 1657 Route 12, Gales Ferry, CT 06335
• CVS Pharmacy, 690 Wethersfield Avenue, Hartford, CT 06114
• CVS Pharmacy, 57 Providence Pike, Putnam, CT 06260
• CVS Pharmacy, 229 Hope Street, Stamford, CT 06906
• CVS Pharmacy, 1938 West Main Street, Stamford, CT 06902
• CVS Pharmacy, 2005 Norwich-New London Turnpike, Uncasville, CT 06382
• CVS Pharmacy, 355 Campbell Avenue, West Haven, CT 06516

A complete list of CVS Pharmacy drive-thru test sites can be found here.

Vincent Salzo, Patch Staff contributed to this report