DC Opens 2nd Coronavirus Testing Site At UDC-CC Campus

WASHINGTON, DC — The D.C. Department of Health is opening its second testing site Thursday for the new coronavirus at UDC-CC's Bertie Backus campus in Ward 5. The UDC-CC testing facility joins the United Medical Center testing site, which opened on March 30.

Located across the street from the Fort Totten Metro station, the new testing facility will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays and operate similarly to the UMC site. It will be open to patients as a walk-thru or drive-thru testing center. Patients must schedule an appointment ahead of time by call 1-855-363-0333.

In addition to opening the new facility, D.C. Health is expanding the criteria for testing to include some asymptomatic individuals who have a history of exposure and who are in a high-risk groups. D.C. residents who feel ill are encouraged to contact their health-care provider or physician or to call the testing hotline.

"We remain very focused in how we protect residents in nursing homes in other congregant settings," Mayor Muriel Bowser said, during a Wednesday morning press briefing.

Over the last week, Bowser and District officials have taken a number of steps to ensure the safety of this population, including making five site visits at three facilities, conducting two PPE trainings and infection control assessments, and talking daily with the epidemiology team at D.C. Health. In addition, a new shipment of PPEs was sent Wednesday to nursing homes in the District, including nearly 30,000 gowns, 9,500 face shields, and 17,000 masks.

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The District plans to deploy Abbot ID Now rapid point-of-care testing instruments at homeless shelters, the District's Department of Corrections facilities, Saint Elizabeths Hospital, and other facilities serving at-risk populations.

D.C.'s Department of Forensics Science is currently training the personnel at these facilities in how to use these instruments, which will be delivered later this week.

"The goal is not to replace the other methods of testing available, including larger samplings that could be sent to the Public Health Lab," Bowser said. "But it adds another tool that will help in the strategic decision-making around quarantine and isolation at these facilities and give the people there immediate access to those tests.

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