The Snohomish Health District will begin offering limited COVID-19 testing in Lynnwood this week.

Testing will be in the back parking lot at the health district’s south county office, located at 6101 200th St. S.W. Appointments are now available beginning at 9 a.m. with the last appointment at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29. Slots will be opened up on Wednesday for Friday, May 1.

This community-based testing site is being operated by the Snohomish Health District, with volunteer support from the Medical Reserve Corps. The Snohomish Health District is piloting plans for smaller operations that are more mobile. This means there will be fewer appointments available, particularly on Wednesday.

The team will monitor operations and make adjustments for Friday’s availability. Details are also being finalized to take these mobile operations to more locations around Snohomish County in May. Updates and additional information is available at www.snohd.org/drive-thru-testing.

Testing is by appointment only. Only those who are sick and have developed one of the following symptoms within the last 14 days will be eligible to register:

• Fever greater than 100.4 degrees,
• Cough,
• Difficulty breathing,
• Chills,
• Repeated shaking with chills,
• Muscle pain,
• Headache,
• Sore throat, or
• New loss of taste or smell.

This testing option is not meant to replace or eliminate other testing avenues offered by many local health care providers. The goal is to supplement those options in order to ease some of the pressure on the existing system.

People should still contact their medical provider for guidance and assessment if they have any of these symptoms, or other health concerns. For medical emergencies, they should call 911 and notify the dispatch personnel that they may have COVID-19.

A website has been set up at redcap.link/Snohomish-COVID19-Testing where people will be asked a series of screening questions and, if they meet testing criteria, will be given an appointment time and a testing identifier number. If there are multiple people who will be coming in the same vehicle to be tested, each of them needs to answer the questions and get an individual number.

People who are being tested should arrive 15 minutes before their appointment, and they will remain in their cars the entire time. Individuals must have an appointment, a testing identifier number and photo ID ready when arriving at the testing site. Those tested will receive instructio