Peabody COVID-19 Test Site Closed Effective Thursday

PEABODY, MA — A COVID-19 testing site in Peabody has closed.

The Peabody Health Department said the PCR testing site at Bresnahan Court closed effective on Thursday.

The site at 8 Centennial Drive remains open Mondays through Saturdays.

The Health Department thanked workers from Curative Health and the support of the Peabody Housing, Peabody Fire Department and Analogic for providing the testing throughout the health crisis.

Free walk-up testing is also available in Salem at the test site at Riley Plaza. This is a self-administered PCR test with results emailed within 24 to 48 hours.

Once considered at the frontline of community surveillance against disease spread, the PCR sites have shuttered across the state over the past six months as at-home rapid testing has become more readily available and most all coronavirus mitigation efforts have eased ahead of the upcoming school year despite ongoing community transmission and a positive-test average that has hovered around 8 percent throughout the summer.

The closing of the Peabody testing site came on the same day the CDC lessened its recommendations for virus restrictions.

Specifically, the CDC lifted the requirement to quarantine if exposed to COVID-19, de-emphasized screening of asymptomatic people and eliminated recommending test-to-stay programs in schools.

"This guidance acknowledges that the pandemic is not over, but also helps us move to a point where COVID-19 no longer severely disrupts our daily lives," said the CDC's Dr. Greta Massetti. "We know that COVID 19 is here to stay."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)