August 21, 2020
Increased testing demand has spurred an expansion of COVID-19 testing sites in Helena for people experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and people who are part of a public-health directed contact tracing effort. Health experts agree that testing and quarantining of people experiencing symptoms or people who have had close contact with someone who has COVID-19 is one of the most effective ways to slow the spread of COVID-19 and save lives.
PureView has officially opened their testing site for people experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and/or people who are part of a public health department contact tracing investigation. The testing at PureView is not part of the organization's prior COVID-19 effort, which focused on testing people who were not experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and had no known contact with someone with COVID-19, according to PureView CEO Jill-Marie Steeley.
“We want to respect the Governor’s request to only test people who are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and those who have been directed by public health to be tested due to their contact tracing efforts. We will not be testing asymptomatic people who have not been directed by public health officials,” Steeley said.
Lewis and Clark Public Health Officer Drenda Niemann is happy to see the community continue to come together to increase the access and ease of testing for those who need it the most.
"We are stronger when we do things together," said Niemann. "The goal is to work together and collaborate to provide several convenient COVID-19 testing sites for our community.”
St. Peter's Health has been providing drive-up COVID-19 testing since mid-March when COVID-19 was known to have arrived in the Helena area. According to St. Peter's Health Medical Group President Dr. Todd Wampler, "testing is one of the most powerful weapons we have against COVID-19. We encourage anyone experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to get tested, and importantly, stay home unless seeking testing or medical care."
This is an evolving situation. Testing information is subject to change. See updated information HERE.