MILWAUKEE — The City of Milwaukee is launching a free mobile testing lab that will be deployed to areas being hit the hardest, a press release from the city said. When a new area exhibits higher levels of COVID, it will be redirected to that community.
The first site will be the Barack Obama School (formerly Custer High School) at 4300 W. Fairmount Ave. Tests will be administered there starting Dec. 29 and last for two weeks. The testing hours are from 8 a.m. to noon on weekdays. On weekends, it goes from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The city is also planning on rolling out another mobile testing site on the city's south side.
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Mayor Barrett says the city hired Curative, a mobile Covid-19 testing company. A spokesperson for the company said at Barack Obama School there will be one van and about six to eight health care workers. Patients will swab their nose or their mouth themselves and give the sample to the staff.
According to its website, Curative has more than 10,000 testing sites across the country, including in southeast Wisconsin. The Washington Ozaukee Health Department started working with the company for some of its testing earlier this month.
Test results will be returned "within days" of the nasal swab.
This is a public-private partnership. Curative company is administering the tests and will bill the person's health insurance. The city will use federal funds as a "last resort if private insurance funding is not available."
This is in addition to the fixed testing sites at Northwest Health Cetner, Southside Health Center, and Miller Park.