Peabody Essex Museum To Host Salem Rapid Coronavirus Test Site

SALEM, MA —The Peabody Essex Museum will host a rapid coronavirus testing site as part of Salem's negative test mandate to attend large indoor events during October regardless of vaccination status.

Curative — which ran the mass vaccination site at the Danvers DoubleTree Hotel — will administer the free tests at the PEM's Connect Building on Essex Street. The site will be open from noon to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays beginning Sept. 30 through Oct. 30. The site will also be open on Halloween until 5 p.m.

Pre-registration is strongly encouraged and can be done here starting on Monday. Those who pre-register can set up an appointment time that may result in a shorter wait time at the site.

Those who test at this site will receive an email of their results within one to two hours.

The Salem Board of Health unanimously approved the negative test order for indoor events at venues open to the public from Oct. 1 through Oct. 31. Anyone attending a Halloween-themed ball, large party, wedding reception or other similar events with 100 or more guests must receive a negative virus test regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not for entry.

Tests must be administered within 72 hours of attending the event. Self-administered or over-the-counter test results are not acceptable for admission.

Venues hosting these events are strongly encouraged to contact all ticket holders to inform them of the new testing mandate so they can arrange for a test prior to coming to Salem if they are from out of town. Salem also offers free "Stop the Spread" testing at St. Peter's Church and Salem High School.

Salem also has an indoor mask mandate, which began on Aug. 23 and is set to expire on Nov. 13.

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(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.)

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