Barcroft 1-Day Testing Site Reaches Capacity Hours Early

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington County's one-day coronavirus testing site at Barcroft Fitness and Recreation Center proved to be in high-demand. The site reached its capacity as of 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, forcing it to stop taking new walk-up and drive-thru patients. The site was originally scheduled to stay open until 6 p.m.

The one-day Barcroft site is similar to ones that have taken place in the City of Alexandria, Fairfax County, Loudoun County and Prince William County over the last week, as part of an effort to expand testing as the region moves toward the first phase of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's phased reopening of the state.

At the request of Northern Virginia leaders, Northam allowed the region to delay entering Phase One of the reopening until midnight on Thursday, May 28. Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey and other area leaders sent a new letter Tuesday to the governor. In this letter, they didn't request another delay for the region, which has met four of six criteria for the first phase of reopening,

"I think we're there to be able to move in [Phase One] now, but we need to do it very cautiously and we need to make sure that testing events like this ... continue," Garvey said. "This isn't a one and done." On Tuesday morning, she joined other members of the County Board and Arlington Health officials for a press briefing outside the Barcroft testing site.

While the numbers are moving in the right direction, Dr. Reuben Varghese, Arlington Public Health director, warned that COVID-19, the illness associated with the new coronavirus, was still widespread and Arlington County still needs to work to contain the virus.

"We need to test people, isolate those who test positive, find close contacts of those positives and quarantine those positives," he said."This is an iterative process. Events like today are one way to move us closer to boxing in the virus."

Those who visited Barcroft on Tuesday received the lab-based PCR test, which will provide results in 24-72 hours. Anyone who tests positive will be notified and asked to isolate themselves and share their close contacts.

"The more we can get the word out about how important testing is, and this center really breaks new ground because we're testing people that do not necessarily have symptoms, don't have a doctor's orders. They just come in and get tested," Garvey said.

According to Aaron Miller, the director of Emergency Management for Arlington County, the Barcroft site had a capacity to test 1,000 people on Tuesday. Although no other one-day events have been scheduled, he and other emergency managers in the region have asked the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to expand the state contract through the Virginia Department of Health to offer more of this type of testing in the region.

In the meantime, Arlington County will continue to operate appointment-only testing at two sites: one at 1429 North Quincy St. and the other at the Arlington Mill Community Center (909 South Dinwiddie St.). Both sites are operating in partnership with Virginia Hospital Center, with the Arlington Free Clinic co-partnering the Arlington Mill site. Patients can request an appointment by calling 703-558-5766.

RELATED:

• Northam Executive Order Allows NoVA To Delay Phase 1 Reopening
• Arlington Board Chair Applauds Northam's Delay In Reopening NoVa
• Virginia Reopening Starts Friday, NoVA Leaders Speak On Delay
• Coronavirus: NoVA Accounts For 55.8 Percent Of New Cases
• Arlington Opens Walk-Up Coronavirus Testing Facility
• Arlington Lab Collects 1,484 Coronavirus Samples In First 30 Days