SALEM — The city will open a walk-up, rapid-COVID-19-testing site downtown in the Peabody Essex Museum’s (PEM) Connect Building, 135 Essex St., across from the Visitor Center and downtown parking garage for the month of October.
The provider Curative — which managed the commonwealth’s MassVax vaccination site in Danvers and other parts of the state earlier this year — will operate the site with trained staff hired from the Salem area.
The rapid-testing site will be open from noon to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from Sept. 30 through Oct. 30, as well as on Sunday, Oct. 31.
On Oct. 30 and Oct. 31, the rapid testing site will be relocated inside PEM’s groups entrance on Essex Street.
On Oct. 31, testing will end at 5 p.m.
Mayor Kimberley Driscoll said she is very grateful for the work and efforts that the health department staff have put into planning this program over the last several weeks.
“I’m also deeply appreciative of the PEM team and their willingness to help host this important testing site in October,” Driscoll said. “Salem has strived to be a leader in responding to this pandemic based on evidence and science, and we see this program as another step in that direction. This new testing site will help us support our event operators and ensure the safety of event guests, employees and volunteers at venues, their families, and our community at large.”
There are no public restrooms at the testing sites and any changes to the testing site hours will be posted at www.salem.com/testing.
Pre-registration is encouraged for anyone planning to receive a COVID-19 test at this site. A link to pre-register for appointments will be posted at www.salem.com/testing on Sept. 27.
Those who pre-register will be able to select a time window for their appointment and avoid waiting in longer walk-in testing lines. Results from this site will be confirmed via email within 1-2 hours.
The city is funding and providing this rapid-testing site to help satisfy the Board of Health’s order requiring a negative COVID-19 test administered within 72 hours of entry to any large indoor event in Salem this October.
This site is one of several free COVID-19 testing sites throughout Salem, including two free “Stop the Spread” PCR-testing sites currently operating, one of which is located downtown at St. Peter’s Church next to the downtown parking garage, and the other is available as a drive-through site at Salem High School as one of the satellite shuttle parking lots for October. For a complete list of COVID-19 testing sites in Salem, visit www.salem.com/testing.
