North Shore Free COVID-19 Test Site Set To Close Next Month

SALEM, MA — One of the North Shore's lone remaining PCR mobile COVID-19 testing sites will pack up shop and close down as of next month.

Salem officials said on Tuesday that Curative, the company that has run the mobile test at Riley Plaza and that ran the mass vaccination site in Danvers in 2021, told the city that the Riley Plaza will close as of Dec. 31, 2022.

The site opened in February and remained open when Gov. Charlie Baker last spring announced that the "Stop the Spread" test sites — which were the first free state sites opened when testing became widely available in August of 2020 — would close because of a lack of demand and the availability of at-home rapid tests.

Stop the Spread sites in Salem were located at a drive-thru location at Salem High School and a walk-in location at Old Town Hall and later St. Peter's Church.

Salem officials said that free, rapid COVID-19 at-home tests will continue to be provided through the Health Department while supplies last.

Testing can also be found at pharmacy sites and at Salem State University here.

(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.)