The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment will be closing all remaining COVID-19 testing sites on Jan. 15. The last day for the La Plata County Fairground testing site will be Jan. 14.
The closures are a part of Gov. Jared Polis’ and his administration’s plans to move everything related to COVID-19 testing and vaccinations to health care providers, medical facilities and pharmacies, according to the Colorado government website.
Demand for the COVID-19 testing sites has fallen off drastically since at-home tests became available the last several months.
“We have provided millions of tests to Coloradans at more than 150 community testing sites across Colorado,” said COVID-19 Incident Commander Scott Bookman, in a CDPHE news release. “Coloradans have transitioned away from relying on large community testing sites and toward testing at home with widely available at-home rapid tests, health care providers, or local retail pharmacies.”
La Plata County residents can still get four free COVID-19 testing kits per person from the lobby of San Juan Basin Public Health’s office in Durango at 281 Sawyer Drive. Residents can also order free tests and delivery through the federal at-home testing program at covid.gov. Insurance companies and health plans are also required to cover eight free over-the-counter at-home tests per month, per person.
Colorado was one of the first states to open a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site on March 2020 in east Denver.
molsen@durangoherald.com
