Update: At some point after we published this and our other article about firehouse testing in the District, DC’s Covid-19 testing website put a June 15th end date on the program. That means Fire Company 31 performed its first and last test on June 11th. We are checking with the offices of Mayor Bowser and DC Council member Mary Cheh.
If you joined the crowds protesting against police brutality last weekend, now is the time to make sure you didn’t pick up more than a protest sign.
A George Mason University professor of epidemiology tells DCist that it’s best to get tested for the coronavirus between three and five days after you may have been exposed, and in the meantime, to act as if you were by self-quarantining and staying away from high-risk individuals.
Mayor Bowser is encouraging marchers to get tested for the coronavirus. You do not need to show symptoms to be tested, either. The mayor’s office, in a statement to media outlets, said, “We are currently offering testing to anyone who needs a test. We literally bought the url needaTESTgetaTEST.com to highlight that if residents need a test, they can get a test. Mayor Bowser also directed the Emergency Operations Command to utilize firehouses as testing sites and that work has begun.”
One of the firehouse testing sites is Engine Company 31 at 4930 Connecticut Avenue. EMTs and paramedics will administer the tests from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursdays. As we reported this week, the firehouse sites don’t require appointments. The city says the test results will be available in three to five days.
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Carren Kaston says
Problem is that the fire stations are./ were giving tests for just two weeks — June 4-15. At the firehouse in Ward 3 at 4930 Conn. Avenue, the one day in the week (actually, half a day) that tests were given was Thursday. By the date of the article above, June 10, there was only one Thursday left to be tested — June 11. What kind of way is that to run a program? People standing in line for 4-5 hours on that Thursday, too few people filling out the paperwork, lines snaking around blocks for 1/3 to 1/2 of a mile. And somehow news of the firehouse testing wasn’t even advertised very well. It’s almost like the city didn’t want people to get tested — just wanted to make a show of it. And protests are continuing every day, So don’t we still need tests? And there’s a huge march on Washington scheduled for August. Then what? — suddenly the firehouse show will appear again?