Novi getting drive-thru COVID-19 test site, screening starts Friday

NOVI, Mich. - Another COVID-19 drive-thru testing site is opening in Michigan, this one spawning in a Walmart parking lot in Novi.

Located at the department store off of Ingersol Drive, the screening site will look a lot like the drive-thru sites that have popped up in the Metro Detroit area.

Experts from both business and health care believe the key to reopening any state under lockdown due to the pandemic is increasing testing capacity. Since Detroit opened the state's first drive-thru site, others have begun opening in designated parking lots as part of private-public partnerships between different levels of government and pharmaceutical retailers, like CVS and Walgreens.

"Walmart is part of the community, and we are proud to help support the expansion of COVID-19 testing in Novi during this unprecedented time," said Erik Hingst, Walmart Public Affairs Director for Michigan. "We are grateful to our associates who keep our stores running, our pharmacists who support these testing sites, and to Quest Diagnostics and local officials as we work together to open the site and help our community."

To use the Novi testing site, the protocol will look similar to other sites. Any adult who has met CDC and state guidelines is eligible for testing, which includes first responders, health care providers, and others expressing symptoms of COVID-19 or those in risk groups who are asymptomatic.

To get tested, you're asked to first make an appointment with an online portal called www.MyQuestCOVIDTest.com. Once on-site, those who are getting tested need to wear a mask and stay in their cars for verification of eligibility. 

Tests will be self-administered, nasal swab tests.

For any questions, people are asked to call (866) 448-7719, Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The site will run Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays weekly from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., weather permitting.