CVS to open 7 metro Phoenix sites for rapid-result COVID testing

PHOENIX – Pharmacy giant CVS announced Wednesday it would soon begin offering coronavirus rapid-result testing in metro Phoenix and other parts of the country.

The company said seven of the nearly 100 kiosks will be available in the Valley starting this week. The booths will be set up in pharmacy parking lots. Overall, about 100 of the sites will be open in 22 states for now.

Results from the swab will come back in about 30 minutes.

Only those registered in advance will be tested. Patients 12-17 years old can be tested but a parent or guardian must fill out the online registration. Any child 15 or younger must be accompanied by an adult.

The new Valley sites are:

• 5975 W. Chandler Blvd., Chandler.
• 2010 S. Dobson Road, Chandler.
• 765 S. Lindsay Road, Gilbert.
• 2840 N. Dysart Road, Goodyear.
• 9950 E. Guadalupe Road, Mesa.
• 10707 W. Camelback Road, Phoenix.
• 28635 N. Valley Parkway, Phoenix.

The company plans to have 1,000 of the sites up and running by the end of the year.

“Access to rapid-result tests enables us to help minimize community spread of COVID-19 by being able to more quickly identify active COVID-19 infection,” Dr. David Fairchild, chief medical officer of CVS’ MinuteClinic, said in a press release.

Arizona has recently seen a rise in coronavirus cases. State health officials reported Wednesday 1,044 new cases for a total of 241,165. Overall fatalities are at 5,905.

The state’s weekly percent positivity for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, is on pace for its highest level in more than two months.

It was 7% for 6,615 tests recorded this week, which would be the highest since it was 8% for the week starting Aug. 2.

For the 85,875 tests recorded for last week, the positivity rate was 6%.

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