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No-barrier, free COVID tests offered in Luverne Oct. 13-15

By
Lori Sorenson

Grand Prairie Events in Luverne will be the location for the Minnesota Department of Health’s free, “no barrier” COVID-19 testing next week.
MDH is hosting free testing stations in dozens of communities across the state, and Luverne’s testing event will be from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, Oct. 13-15.
Nasal swab testing will be free, available to any Minnesota residents who feel they need to be tested, whether they have symptoms or not, and it will not require insurance.
The free testing sites are offered in response to spikes of COVID-19 cases, according to MDH Commissioner Jan Malcolm.
She said it appears numbers are rising due to community spread driven by people who don’t know they have the virus and are putting others at risk,
“We are deeply concerned about the spike of cases in communities all over the state where people don’t know how they contracted the virus,” she said. “Testing lets us know who needs to isolate and who else may be at risk.”
Health officials are using testing data to identify communities that are experiencing workplace clusters, are close to bordering states, or haven’t yet had larger-scale testing offered, according to Kris Ehresmann, infectious disease director at MDH.
“With this targeted push, we’re able to identify clusters of cases – whether they’re from weddings, funerals, backyard BBQs, Labor Day activities, going back to school, or being in the workplace, intervening now will prevent further spread and outbreaks,” Ehresmann said.
Health officials believe widespread access to testing followed by isolating those who are positive, and quarantining close contacts is a proven strategy for controlling spread.
This in turn will help keep businesses and schools open as much as possible going forward.
According to Rock County Emergency Management Director Kyle Oldre, the free, no-barrier test site might convince some who might not otherwise bother to get tested to do so.
“We have to figure out how to get over that hurdle,” he told the Star Herald for a Sept. 24 story.
He said he’s also concerned about a resistance to being tested and hopes the free set-up will help. “Nobody wants to be the one who puts our local numbers over the edge.”
He said he’s heard of some people who knew they’d been exposed and were even showing symptoms, but didn’t get tested because they didn’t want to affect students’ opportunity for in-classroom learning.
Oldre also urged residents to not be complacent about the dangers of COVID-19, despite the fact that many only have mild symptoms or none at all.
“The thing is, we simply don’t know what this virus is capable of or when it’s going to attach to the lungs or heart,” he said.
“And we don’t know what it can do long term. Will it be like shingles after chicken pox? We don’t know.”
The free test sites are designed to cast a wider net of identifying asymptomatic individuals to help control community spread.
Any Minnesota resident can travel to any of the test sites scheduled in the coming weeks.
Tests will be processed either by Mayo Clinic Laboratories or the University of Minnesota.

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