Salem Extends Riley Plaza COVID-19 Test Site Through End Of 2022

SALEM, MA — As many municipal and state-run COVID-19 test sites wound down in recent months amid declining volume and the prevalence of at-home rapid tests, Salem took steps to extend its PCR testing site at Riley Plaza.

The city said on Tuesday that the Curative site will now be open through at least Dec. 31, 2022, to deal with any coronavirus surges or new variants.

The free walk-up mobile clinic offers a self-administered PCR test with results emailed within 24 to 48 hours.

It will close at noon on May 28 and will be closed on Memorial Day, but will reopen for its regular hours beginning on Tuesday. The site is generally open Mondays through Fridays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The state in March shut down the city's two "Stop the Spread" free test sites that had operated at Salem High School and St. Peter's Church since the early months of the pandemic.

North Shore communities are reemphasizing testing and both vaccines and booster shots amid a rise in COVID-19 cases over the past couple of months. The statewide positive-test average rose above 9 percent last week for the first time since January — but the state Department of Public Health said it did decline to 8.3 percent as of Monday.

The Peabody Health Department, Beverly Board of Health and Salem Board of Health both issued advisories encouraging the use of masks in indoor public settings in recent weeks — though there have been no restored mask orders for businesses or inside municipal buildings or schools as of yet.

(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.)