The Indiana State Department of Health will offer free COVID-19 testing beginning Tuesday in Marshall County and in 10 other counties this week.
Marshall County was chosen based on its per capita case, testing and positivity rates, as well as the population of industry and agricultural workers. The current availability of local testing options was also considered.
Elkhart, Lake, Warrick, Brown, Henry, Kosciusko, Ohio/Switzerland, Perry, Tippecanoe and Wells Counties will also have free testing sites.
Marshall County Health Administrator Ashley Garcia told the Marshall County Council members on Monday morning that the site has not been selected as the county was notified on short notice, but it will be announced when it is finalized.
The testing site will be open to any Indiana resident. Testing will be limited to 200 people per day at each site.
Garcia stressed that if any individual from outside the county tests positive for COVID-19, that statistic will be included in that person’s county of residence.
When discussing the fact that the county was chosen based on its per capita statistics, Garcia said there have been 100 additional positive cases of COVID-19 in a week.
“I think there were a lot of people that were under the idea that increased testing was the reason why our numbers kept going up, but we all now know that since we haven’t had an Optum testing site for the last three weeks that’s definitely not the case,” said Garcia. “People need to be a little bit more mindful when they go out into the community.”
She encourages residents to wear a mask when out in public and to wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds frequently throughout the day. When hand washing is not immediately available the use of hand sanitizer is preferred.
