SWAMPSCOTT — Nahant residents can now receive free COVID-19 testing in Swampscott.
The news comes one week after Swampscott officials announced the town would offer free testing to all its residents, no questions asked, two days a week at the First Congregational Church on Monument Ave.
Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Graham Archer said the decision to extend services to Nahant residents was made in an effort to provide more thorough contact tracing throughout the combined school district.
“We decided to partner with Nahant because one of our school nurses brought up the point that some of our students live in Nahant,” Archer said. “As they’re beginning to come back into the classroom, we extended the testing to (our Nahant students), and then we thought to extend it to the entire town. We’re hoping a lot of students, as well as their whole families, will avail themselves of testing.”
Since the site’s launch, Archer said Swampscott — which is partnering with Nahant to fund the venture though Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act grant money — has delivered a total of 250 tests, all of which have so far come back negative.
“It’s important to provide this opportunity to residents so that we can try to capture a snapshot of where COVID cases may or may not be,” said Nahant Town Administrator Tony Barletta. “We (currently) have no positive cases in Nahant, but that data is typically linked to symptoms.
“The thing about coronavirus is that most cases are asymptomatic, so you could be transmitting the virus and not even know it, and most people don’t get tested unless they’re required to or would have to otherwise pay.
“Providing this free opportunity allows residents to get tested if they want to, regardless of whether they have symptoms or are required to, so it’s going to help us control the spread of the coronavirus.”
Open to all ages, testing will take place on Wednesdays from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m., and on Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon.
Residents do not need to be experiencing symptoms to receive a free test. Results will be returned to testees within 24 to 48 hours. No pre-registration is necessary.
For more information, residents are urged to call (781) 595-4050.
“Testing is one of the most important steps we can do,” Archer said. “We need to identify, as early as possible, anyone who may have contracted the virus so that we can have them take the proper steps to isolate themselves to mitigate the spread.”
