Baltimore Coronavirus Testing Site Opening At Pimlico Race Course

BALTIMORE, MD — A new coronavirus testing site will open at Pimlico Race Course Friday, through a public-private partnership. Baltimore City government, the Maryland Department of Health, Maryland National Guard and LifeBridge Health are collaborating to provide testing for those who have been screened and referred. Testing at Pimlico will be by appointment only.

The Maryland National Guard built the testing site in less than a week in northwest Baltimore, which the mayor said was purposefully selected based on where the virus was concentrated.

"The largest number of cases in Baltimore are in the 21215 ZIP code, which is why we decided to stand up our first community testing site at Pimlico in the heart of that neighborhood," Mayor Bernard C. "Jack" Young said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

"We are seeing concentrations in certain ZIP codes in Baltimore," he said, announcing the release of an online dashboard with data about coronavirus in the city.

Baltimore has 638 confirmed cases, 243 hospitalizations and 13 deaths from the virus in Baltimore City as of Thursday, April 9, according to the Maryland Department of Health.

Part of the motive for building a testing center at Pimlico was to divert people from hospitals and health care facilities, officials said.

Members of the Maryland Army National Guard’s 1297th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion and 1729th Maintenance Company, both based in Havre de Grace, and the 1229th Transportation Company, based in Baltimore, built Deployable Rapid Assembly Shelters and medium tents in the parking lot outside the race course.

"We remain committed to scaling up our response," the mayor said, with partners in the private sector helping to staff the site once it is operational Friday.

Here is the process for getting tested:

• Call 211 first and receive a screening over the phone. "It will not be accepting walk-ins at this time," Baltimore City Health Commissioner Letitia Dzirasa said of the Pimlico testing site. Those eligible for testing will need to have a referral.
• Drive up to the site at Pimlico Race Course.
• Stay in the car for the screening.
• Receive instructions about care after the test.

LifeBridge Health staff will oversee the testing at the facility. Another LifeBridge testing site will close so that it can focus on the testing site at Pimlico. According to WBAL, the Sinai Hospital testing site will stop operating.

"The site is highly controlled and contained," a LifeBridge Health spokesman said at a news conference Thursday in Baltimore, noting the health care system had conducted hundreds of tests at three different centers over the past several weeks.

"We know that we might be a hotbed," Young said on CNN Thursday night. "We're hoping and praying we're not."

The testing site will open at 10 a.m. Friday, April 10. It will be closed Saturdays. Once it reopens Sunday, April 12, it will run Sunday to Friday.

See Also:

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